Fellowship Of Ninja
by Iris-Phoenix
Summary: When a recon mission drags Neji, Hinata, Naruto and Kiba into a war, how will they cope-without getting killed? As they go forwards, how will the war strain their bonds? slash and non-slash parings
1. Middle Earth

Chapter One: Middle Earth

**Summary:** Naruto, Neji, Kiba, and Hinata are sent on a reconnaissance mission, but that mission takes a turn, and now they are dragged into a war where they have no idea what's going on.

**Author's note:** Okay…er, I'm sorry if some parts are a little…weird. I was bored, couldn't get to sleep, and ideas were going about 90 mph around in my head keeping me up-forgive me-and Neji happens to be my favorite character. Did I say everything I wanted to? I think I did. Read on!

**Disclaimer:** Don't own Naruto or LOTR…why must I say that?

"Talking"

'_Thinking'_

Chapter One: Middle Earth?

How they ended up as a couple was a complete mystery to everyone, including the two in question. One was cheerful, a prankster, and completely wild. The other was more reserved, calm, and collected. Naruto and Neji, respectively. Maybe it had to do with how Neji had complemented Naruto as they were going after Sasuke, and almost died trying to keep Kidomaru at bay. Or how Naruto had managed to go through with his promise, even if he wasn't Hokage yet-let's just say that he was very convincing when he wanted to be when it came to Tsunade. That had been a very eventful month or so when the Hyuuga were told to change their ways. And Hiashi had agreed to, over the complaints of the elders.

Still, when it had been found out that they were together, it was another interesting month. Hinata had been gloomy for quite a few days, the very supportive-which both boys were glad for. She had finally developed into a fine family heiress, according to her father. She was even a mednin, and had done better than Sakura, since she was a Hyuuga and had to have chakra control to execute her jutsu. Kiba had…well, he had almost laughed himself sick. Shino was as unreadable as ever, though he did ask when they had ever really talked to each other before they became a couple. And a few other questions that made Kiba laugh even harder, until Neji threatened him with the _Juken_. That shut him up for the rest of the week. Tenten had been in a state of shock, but had gotten over it quite admirably, and Lee was…well, Lee. He didn't see a problem with it, and simply congratulated the two…like they had been married or something. Both vowed to never tell him anything more on their relationship-for the sake of their sanity. Sasuke, who had returned after finally dealing with his brother, was not too sure of what to say. He didn't know if he was supposed to be happy for Naruto-or worried about what had happened while he was gone…Sakura was definitely confused. After all, hadn't he loved her? Then to go off and become a couple with a Hyuuga, not to mention the _male_ Hyuuga that was their age. Somehow, that really hurt her ego. Not that she would admit that. The others had mixed feelings, but really didn't mind, seeing as how they were not really involved in it.

Just because they were going out did not mean that they stopped going on missions thought.

"Ne, Neji? What are you up so early for?" Naruto asked, as he noted his boyfriend getting dressed in his ANBU gear. Neji sighed, and looked back over to the kitsune, and shook his head.

"You were paying no attention to what I said last night, were you?" he asked, and Naruto smirked.

"Well…" Neji cut him off before he could say something completely perverted.

"Before that! About a mission?" at that Naruto looked up at the ceiling, before snapping his fingers.

"Right! A recon mission! Oh…wait. Today?" Neji picked up his bird mask, and resisted the urge to smack the blond over the head with it.

"Today. As in now. Get moving or your going to be facing Tsunade-sama _alone_." Neji said, and that lit the fire under Naruto's tail so to speak. He scrambled up, and began to dress, making it to the door just as Neji opened it. With that the two took off to the Hokage's.

When the arrived they saw who was going on the mission with them, another couple; Hinata and Kiba. Not that their announcement was unexpected, after all Kiba really did seem to like Hinata, and after Naruto said that he was going out with Neji, Hinata finally saw how much Kiba cared for her.

Still, there was one person missing. Oh, right. The HOKAGE!

"How long have you two been waiting?" Naruto asked, and Kiba shrugged.

"Sorta lost count after 30 minutes…" he grumbled, as Hinata sighed and sat down. The males followed her example, and sat down, waiting for her to show up. They heard screams coming down the hall, both female voices.

'_That's them…'_ all four thought, and no sooner did they scramble to their feet than did the doors fly open. There stood Tsunade and Shizune, bickering. The four ANBU stared, though it wasn't visible from behind the masks. Though it should have been expected from those two…Naruto sighed, Neji shook his head, Hinata coughed, and Kiba rolled his eyes as Akamaru wined. Their small noises got the attention of the two women.

"Ah! You four are early…" she began but Naruto being the bolder of the group cut in, saying what was on everyone's mind.

"Tsunade-baachan! We're not early! You're late!" he snapped, and everyone backed a good few feet away from him, just incase.

Tsunade twitched, but refused to acknowledge the comment.

"Right, I asked you four to come here because I have a mission, one that I don't know how to rank. You four are going on a mission into lands we have next to no information on. You are to go there, and gather that information, and form alliances if you can. Once again it is un-ranked, and I do not know how long it will last for. Accept?" she finished as she sat down in her chair. Well, it had gotten a bit boring around the area, after the other problems had been dealt with…so they all thought that this mission could be interesting.

"Accepted." The four replied, and Tsunade nodded. She pulled out a map. It wasn't highly detailed, or helpful. Aside from the title of the map-Middle Earth.

"This is all we have on the place, aside that a special jutsu is needed to get to the area." She said, after they had gathered around her desk to look over the map. The four nodded, as they looked over the map of the area, wondering why they hadn't seen it on any maps that they had studied at the Academy. She handed it off to Neji, who looked it over and rolled it up and placed it into his pocket.

"Now, go pack, and be back within the hour." She said, and the four ANBU agents shot off to go and collect their things.

--

After all had finished packing their stuff, they met up before the doors of the Hokage's office, and entered. She was still there, which told them that this mission was definitely serious. It wasn't everyday that woman sat around and waited for them to come back without breaking out a bottle of sake. So, that made them just a bit nervous.

"Follow me. When we get to the room I want you four to hold onto each other so you are not separated." She said, as soon as they all came into the room. She stood, and began leading the way to a room. The four looked at each other, some more nervous than others. Still, they followed after her; they had taken the mission.

The room she led them too was large and circular, with a pattern drawn into the floor, and the other shinobi within the room were standing around the design at different points.

That was then that they knew that it was not going to be pleasant. After all, if it was some of the nin in the room would be smirking, or snickering. No, as they were ushered to the center of the design they could see that the others in the room looked worried, and some looked apologetic. This was going to be one hell of a ride. Then Tsunade handed them each a small scroll.

"Here, take these, they'll keep you in contact with each other, and me. Just write who you want to talk to first. Run a bit of chakra through them to link them to you. Write at least once a week so I know you're all okay…" she trailed off here, as the four did as she asked with the scrolls, and then placed them in their packs. And with that she backed out of the design, and took her place, as did Shizune.

"Hold on to each other so you don't get separated!" she yelled, as the wind in the room picked up, tossing their cloaks around. Neji immediately felt a death grip on his arm, and already knew who it was. Naruto had latched onto him, with a grip that would have been lethal if around the neck, at the mention of being separated. With his free hand he grabbed his cousin's arm, as she took a hold of Kiba, who was sitting on Akamaru. Within seconds they found out why they had been told to hang on to each other.

It felt like they had been caught in a tornado. The strong winds had picked up, almost tearing their cloaks from their bodies, and they had to fight to keep a grip on each other. And, just like the winds of a tornado, the winds tore at them and made them feel as if they had been caught in a vacuum with almost unbearable pressure on all sides. Thankfully it didn't last long. Soon they no longer felt the tearing winds, but a gentle breeze, as they stood-blinking in confusion-atop a hill. Neji blinked a few times, before he dug into his pocket, and pulled out the map.

"Well…this thing is no help…" he muttered, as he rolled it back up and stuffed it back into his pocket. He sighed, and looked around at the area, looking for a good place to set up camp so they could figure out where they were. After looking around he sighed.

"Well…it looks like we are going to be setting up camp here." He said, and Kiba replied by sliding of Akamaru, and dropping to the ground.

"Fine by me!" Naruto chirped, and Hinata just nodded. It would be a good place to stay, as the height would give them the advantage of being able to see potential problems sneaking up on them. So with that in mind they set about making the camp, and deciding who would have the first watch.


	2. Elves

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto, or Lord Of The Rings

**Summary: **didn't change

**Disclaimer:** Don't own Naruto, or Lord Of The Rings. Wish I did, but I don't.

**A/N: **PrincessPrincess-Thanks! Cookie for you, and an update!

'_Thinking'_

"_Elven/Shinobi"_

"Common"

Chapter Two: Elves

Soon everything was settled, and they had just begun to pick turns for watch when Akamaru barked, and Kiba stiffened.

"People coming!" he said, and scrambled to his felt along with everyone else.

The sight that greeted them was a tall man, who seemed to have some type of chakra plenty strong but unused, and four little people. Neji and the others didn't know what to classify them as, they didn't look like children, but they were not dwarves…and they had extremely hairy feet…And one had a small bundle of chakra that seemed to be pulsing with power, a tainted power that corrupted anything that came into contact with it. The little person's chakra was a good example of this, as it was being slowly tainted even as they watched. Not that they had long to watch, because as soon as the man had caught sight of them he had shoved the little people behind himself, and was now pointing a sword at them. One man hoped to take on four shinobi, and an extremely large dog. He was either very brave, or very stupid. Though they could have taken on this lone man, they were there to learn the area, and the people-not kill them.

_"Wait! We mean no harm!"_ Neji exclaimed, as he saw the man getting ready to lunge. His outburst seemed to surprise the man, and the little people, though they looked confused at what was said.

_"You…are Elves?"_ the man asked, lowering his sword. He had a funny look on his face, and Neji was tempted to hit him anyway. Elves?! What was he talking about? From the snorts coming from behind him he could tell Kiba and Naruto were trying very hard not to bust up right there.

_"Sir, we are not elves. We are shinobi."_ He responded, and it was his turn to receive an odd look.

_"Shinobi? I have never heard of such creatures…"_ that stopped Kiba and Naruto's laughter. Hinata looked taken aback, and Neji was trying desperately not to say something derogatory.

'_Shinobi…wait…there was a type of legend that Adar told me about…something about some race of human…but they vanished from Middle-Earth long_ _ago!'_ Aragon thought, as he noted that upon calling them 'creatures' the two in the back had gone rigid. And not from fear. He could practically feel the anger boiling off of them. That had most definitely been the wrong choice of words.

_"I apologize, but shinobi are but a legend…I have only heard pieces of their history from Elrond."_ At this Neji sighed. Well, that would explain. Still, he glanced back to the others, and they nodded. Yep, they knew what he was going to do, after all this man sounded like he knew the area, and it would be rude to ask questions without some type of introduction. They were the strangers to the land, and it would only be right if they spoke first.

_"Legend or not, we are Konoha shinobi, ANBU rank, and we wanted to ask if-"_ before he could finish his sentence Akamaru growled, and Kiba pulled out a kunai. The man and little people tensed.

_"Something's coming…"_ Kiba warned, and Aragon turned around, just in time to see another cloaked figure come into the area. One figure followed by three more. And suddenly all four shinobi realized why the man had almost attacked them.

The figures looked almost identical to the ANBU-aside from the small fact that the ANBU had masks, and untainted chakra…and that the cloaked figures didn't seem to be human anymore…

Akamaru snarled, and moved to lunge, as Kiba shifted his grip on his kunai. Neji and Hinata took similar but vastly different stances for their defensive moves, and Naruto growled deep in his throat also pulling out a kunai. The figures moved to attack, going after one of the small people, namely the one with the tainted bundle of chakra. The man almost instantly attacked the figure closest to him. It shrieked-in a way that was definitely not human-and backed up. The others did not. So Naruto and the others charged in, swinging the kunai at the figures, managing to cut the cloaks and sometimes whatever was under the cloaks…

Then something odd happened.

The little person that had been the target pulled something out of his pocket, and vanished. They heard the man curse, and one of the little people call for the one who had vanished. But when one of the cloaked figures stabbed at seemingly empty air and there was a shout Neji figured that these figures could see the little person just as well as the Byakugan. Though him and Hinata didn't have time to dwell on that fact, as one of them made a passing swipe at them. Neji retaliated with blocking with his kunai, and waited for the man to show them how to deal with these things because so far it didn't look like they bled.

The man was guarding the little person, and waving a torch around now, and thrust it into the hood of one of the creatures, and it recoiled screaming. So, fire was deadly to them…

_"Hinata! Hit it with an explosion tag!"_ Neji called over to his cousin, who was fast to pull one out and hit it in the 'face' and Neji jumped back just in time for her to activate the thing. That made two down at that one was sent away screaming as well.

Two more to go.

Naruto quickly formed the seals to his Kage no Bunshin, and it promptly attacked the nearest figure, and that left Kiba with the last one. He tossed another exploding note at it, and it detonated at the same time Naruto's clone did. Naruto had planted an exploding note in it.

As soon as the cloaked figures were dealt with the man turned back to the ANBU with an odd look.

_"I'll ask later, but we have to get Frodo help. Introductions can wait."_ The man said as he picked up one of the little people-Frodo-and began walking off at a pace that surprised the ANBU. Though the man didn't seem to have any training he really could set a fast pace after a fight. Not that they were going to complain. Though as soon as they got to the bottom of the hill they saw two people mounted on horses. The man quickly ran up to one, said a few things, and handed Frodo to him. Then he looked over to the other three little people. Kiba sighed, as they noticed something. The other little people would just slow them down on foot, and there wasn't enough room for them on the horses…

_"Hey, Akamaru can keep up with a horse, they can ride him." _The man sighed, and nodded, before turning to the little people and saying something. They gave him odd looks, but nodded, and Akamaru lay down so they could get on. Still, the man gave them a worried look, but Neji waved it off.

_"Get moving. We can keep up."_ he said, and the man gave him an odd look, but nodded. The two people on the horses looked to each other, and Neji noted that they must have also been twins. Still they gave the man a look. He simply waved it off in a 'I'll answer later' gesture, and got on behind the person not holding Frodo. And with that they took off, Akamaru following behind. The ANBU followed close behind, much to the surprise of the mounted people. But when an unearthly screech resounded through the area, they all turned to see the cloaked figures again. Neji swore. They had horses.

_"Didn't we get rid of them?!" _Naruto demanded, annoyed. Kiba was openly swearing, and Neji knew that under the mask Kiba's expression would have been one of fear. Hinata was busy pulling out kunai and attaching something to them. She then flung them at the one figure in the lead, and detonated the exploding notes that were attached. Neji, and the rest stared at her. That had been over-kill, even the horse had gone down! Still, that left three others.

_"Keep moving!"_ Neji snapped, as he saw Kiba and Naruto turn and get ready to deal with the other three. The halted their movement, for a split second, before twisting back around and following Neji and Hinata, who were beside Akamaru and the others.

_"Almost there!"_ one of them men yelled, and the one that they had fought beside yelled something to the little people. Soon they knew what they had been running towards, as they heard the sound of running water. Soon they were splashing through the water or, in the shinobi's case, running on top of a river. The received a few odd looks for this, but they paid no attention to that, it was second nature by now to do this type of thing with water by now. They raced to the other end of the river, and for some reason the others halted and turned back to the black riders. Neji was about to scream at them to get moving, as the black riders charged into the river, before he heard a dull roar. He, and the others, turned to see the river had risen out of its banks, and was bearing down on the riders in the river with more force than any water jutsu they had ever seen. Neji, and the others scrambled away from the banks, and watched the water slam into the riders, and wash them away. When the water had returned to its banks Neji and Hinata turned to the two riders with them. One shrugged, and his twin motioned for them to get moving again. Naruto and Kiaba were stock still and staring, and Neji sighed.

_"Naruto! No time to act like a fool! Kiba, that goes for you too! We're moving on!" _Neji shouted, as he and his cousin turned to follow the riders. Naruto started first, covering the distance between himself and his boyfriend in one bound, and almost tackled the smaller male. Kiba was a bit slower, but ran up to trot alongside his dog and Hinata all the same.

--

After they had been running for a time, the riders slowed to walk, and then the shinobi knew they could breath a bit easier. For now. Soon a city came into view, and the four, five if you counted Akamaru, stared in awe.

_"K'so…it's beautiful…"_ Naruto muttered, and Neji agreed. Hinata was silent, and even Kiba was quiet for once. They heard that the place was named Rivendell, and other things, but right then it was only habit that tuned them into what was said. The followed behind the people, listening to the ones that saved them, and trying to understand what the little people-and the other man-were saying. Still, as they got closer to the city they all had the feeling that they did before a mission would usually take a drastic turn that wasn't foreseen in the slightest.

And sometimes it wasn't always a good thing to be correct.

A/N: Okay, second chapter done…finally.


	3. Rivendell

Summary: didn't change

**Summary:** didn't change

**Disclaimer:** Don't own Naruto, or Lord Of The Rings. It will be a cold day in hell when I do.

**A/N:** Forgive! I mangled stuff in the last chapter, and just now noticed that! I found my books a few days ago, and re-read that part, and figured that I had butchered it…I'll try to repair the damage in this chapter…gomen!!

PrincessPrincess- Heh. At the very least.

icegodess52-Thanks for the complement

Flightless Bird-um…book. I think, maybe pieces of the movies. And thanks.

Danimals21-Thanks, and I will continue.

'_Thinking'_

"_Elven/Shinobi"_

"Common"

'**Kyuubi'**

Chapter Three: Rivendell

"_This way…who did you say you were?"_ Aragorn asked, as he ushered the shinobi towards the building. He had given Frodo to one of the twins. He didn't know if it was Elladan or Elohir. But either way he was going to be taken care of. That was all that mattered. Now he could talk to the others, without the hobbits around-they had followed to see how Frodo was doing. One of the masked people looked up, and seemed to be giving him a stare from behind the mask.

"_We said we are shinobi. ANBU rank from Konoha."_ The person responded. Aragorn blinked, before sighing.

"_Names? I am Aragorn son of Arathorn. What are yours?"_ he asked, and the shinobi looked to one another, wondering if they should answer him truthfully or not.

Naruto, of course, being himself didn't wait for the others to even finish thinking over things before he blurted out everything, and made Neji really want to smack him.

"_I'm Uzumaki Naruto! That's Hyuuga Neji, his cousin Hyuuga Hinata, and Inuzuka Kiba."_ The blond said pointing to each as he named them…and Neji had the impression that behind the mask his lover was grinning broadly. He also got the impression that Kiba and Hinata were wearing identical expressions of mild annoyance like himself. The man, Aragorn, blinked but nodded at the introduction.

"_Hyuuga? They have the same name?"_ Aragorn asked, pointing at Hinata and Neji. Naruto paused, before he registered what the man meant, as he heard Kiba laughing.

"_No…they have the same family name. They're from the Hyuuga Clan, the clan name goes first."_ He explained, as Neji tried to stifle his own laughter. His lover was explaining something to another person, and was using the same tone that Iruka-sensei did, when talking to an extremely slow student. He never thought the day would come.

"_Oh…well then Hinata, Neji, I apologize for that error. This way then. You should meet Lord Elrond, and then I will show you to your rooms, I suppose you are all tired."_ He responded. The shinobi looked to one another, and nodded. Maybe they could get some information as to where they were from Elrond or others.

"_Hey, it seems we may be finished with this mission faster than we thought." _Naruto whispered to Neji. Neji turned to stare at the kitsune for a brief second before turning back to Aragorn.

"…_maybe. But I have a feeling that something is going on here that may prolong our stay."_ Neji responded, loud enough for the others to hear him. Kiba groaned, as did Naruto.

"_Aw, crap. Neji you really know how to knock someone's mood down."_ Kiba muttered, and Akamaru made a low whining noise. Neji sighed, but didn't respond to him.

--

After their meeting with Elrond, who they gave their respect to, after all he seemed to be one of the few who knew about shinobi, and gave them respect as well, they were shown to rooms. Kiba and Hinata took one, and Naruto and Neji took another, much to the amusement of the elves. The fact that the two rooms were side-by-side also had a part in it, though the elves didn't need to know that.

Neji blinked as he heard Naruto collapse on the single bed with a loud sigh.

"_Naruto-kun? Are you okay?"_ Neji asked, and Naruto responded with a groan. Neji raised an eyebrow and turned around to face the blond, who had sat up at his lover's question.

"_Neji…we were running for days! DAYS!! I'm sure you're tired as well, don't give me that look, because you were the one in the lead. I said don't give me that look! You know it's true, so lie down."_ He said, and Neji sighed. Well, he did have a point…He dropped onto the bed, without removing his bird-like mask, and was asleep within seconds.

'**You have an interesting choice in mates, kit.'** A voice in the back of Naruto's mind piped up, and Naruto twitched. He knew that voice, and really didn't like the owner.

'_Can it, stupid fox…'_ he grumbled, and the demon fox laughed.

'**Aw…what's the matter? Don't like my input? You do know he looks like a girl.'** The nine-tailed fox commented, and chuckled when he felt Naruto scowl.

'_Let him hear you say that and he may just kill you.'_ Naruto muttered darkly, and Kyuubi- if anything- laughed harder, before making another comment.

'**You mean you. It's your body, not mine.'** Naruto wondered if the thing was…giggling? Oh, that was a picture he did not need!

'…_still, you're in it! I die you do as well!'_ he managed to respond, after getting over the scarring image of Kyuubi giggling like a Sasuke fan-girl…Naruto closed his eyes and rubbed the heel of his palms into them as he tried to get the image out of his mind. And that damned fox was still laughing at him!

'…_that's it. Talk to yourself for the night. I'm going to sleep.' _Naruto grumbled, and laid back down, wrapping a possessive arm around the longhaired brunet.

--

"_Ada? Are you sure about the story of the 'shinobi' as they are called? I do not mean to doubt you, but what you say they are capable of sounds like a fairytale…' _Aragorn said, as he sat down next to Elrond. The elf looked over to the man, and nodded.

"_Yes. I am quite sure of myself. The idea was strange to me the first few times I read the scroll-" _here Aragorn interrupted, and Elrond spared him a mildly annoyed glance.

"_Scroll? Was it not in a book?"_ he asked, and the dark-haired elf sighed. He raised the boy, he should have been used to the constant stream of questions by now.

"_No, it was in a scroll. Here, you can read it yourself." _At this Elrond pulled the scroll out of his pocket, and handed it to Aragorn. The man nodded, and took it, going off to a quieter place to read. Elrond sighed, and stood, just as the twins came tearing into the library, and hid behind a shelf. At the sounds of the cook coming after them he shook his head. Just another normal day…

--

When dawn broke the next day the four shinobi were already up, and trying to figure out how they were going to ask for a map without looking like A) Morons B) Spies or C) Both. Hinata had written Tsunade, who had literally flipped on them, saying that they were supposed to write once a week, and it had definitely been a week without notice. Poor Hinata had tried to calm the Hokage, but the woman ranted, her words taking up a good foot or so on the scroll. When she finally simmered down she had asked how things were and everything went smoothly from there. So, it was time to see what they could do. They hadn't come up with anything, but they decided to try the library. Now…to find it…

--

Aragorn blinked as he saw one of the guests wandering around in the halls. It was the one with the bird mask. The person was looking around occasionally glancing into a room, and was obviously lost.

"_Looking for something?"_ he asked, as the person came closer. He noted that the person didn't jump, though he had come up beside him as quietly as he could, but obviously not quietly enough.

"_Yes…do you know where the library is?"_ the young man asked, and Aragorn nodded. He began to lead the way before one of the hobbits came up to him.

"Aragorn? Is Frodo going to wake up soon? Sam won't leave his side until he does he says." Merry said, and looked over to the other person nearby. The young man had tilted his head to one side in confusion at the hobbit's words. Aragon supposed that the person didn't know Common, and sighed as it was confirmed when the young man turned to him and asked what Merry had said. This was going to be a difficult day…

--

Then next few days went without event, unless you count the shinobi getting lost more than once. And the uproar it caused when they were caught on the roofs, and not to mention training in the gardens. The twins were having fun trying to see who could catch one of the shinobi off-guard, but it seemed that they were constantly one step ahead of them. Rather than annoy the twins this only made them work harder at it, and gave Elrond more headaches. More than once they found trouble with a certain bird-masked shinobi, whom they had begun to opt to run from, and landed in the healing wing. Though they were usually laughing, unless Neji had been especially brutal, in which case they laughed it off once they woke up.

Most of the time that the shinobi spent around Aragorn was to learn Common. The Ranger didn't mind teaching them, as they seemed to pick up on languages pretty quickly. That didn't mean he wasn't happy when Gandalf arrived to help teach them.

When Gandalf arrived he noticed that Elrond looked more harassed than ever. When he asked what the matter was the elf waved him off. Still the giant eagle drew the attention of the four shinobi, as they wandered around. Neji had stared at it, fascinated. He liked birds, but this one was huge! Naruto's eyes had grown large behind his mask, as he fought the temptation to ask it for a ride. Hinata gasped when she saw it, and muttered something about its size. Kiba was no less impressed than the others. He could ride Akamaru, but this thing looked like it could pick up both him and his dog without trouble.

Gandalf looked at the shinobi, and then to Aragorn, and Elrond. The former shrugged, and the latter sighed. Gandalf raised an eyebrow at that, and made a note to talk to the two after Frodo woke.

--

When Frodo woke up the hobbits were overjoyed. They had charged into the room, and begun talking to him and filling him in on everything that had happened within the days. This was, of course, as soon as Frodo was ready to talk to people. That being the afternoon of when he woke. He was happy to see his friends again, and his uncle as well. After Gandalf had made sure that Frodo was okay, he went to talk to Elrond and Aragorn about the shinobi.

"I suppose they are who helped you get here?" he asked, as he Aragorn, and Elrond seated themselves in a secluded room. This was not a matter that needed to be overheard.

"Yes…it seems they are what they say. They are shinobi, as they have shown skills that I have not seen." Aragorn said, and Elrond nodded.

"Yes…we have seen them in action…in the gardens. And over the past few days." Elrond sighed. Aragorn smiled slightly as he remembered the look on the elf's face when he had seen what the four had done to that particular section of the gardens.

"They pose no threat…after all they helped us arrive here." Aragorn stated, and Gandalf nodded.

"True, but one can never be too careful. But they may have a part to play…" he said, and didn't elaborate. Though from there the conversation turned to what they were going to do about the Ring.

--

The next day was the day of the Council of Elrond. The council had representatives from Mirkwood, the Dwarves, and the two Ring-Bearers. The others included Gandalf, Elrond, Aragorn, Boromir, and the shinobi. The shinobi were in the shadows, preferring not to be seen. Though when it dissolved into arguments Naruto muttered a few choice words that made Neji snicker. Hinata blushed, and Kiba was hard pressed not to burst out laughing.

As soon as the company had been finished Gandalf nodded to them. They had talked earlier about what was going on, and they had agreed that if their help were to be needed they would accompany them.

"Ah, well I have a few others I would like to come along. They have proven to be friendly to our cause." The wizard said, as the four stepped out from the shadows, making those nearby jump.

"Well, it seems we will be tagging along…" Kiba chirped, and Naruto nodded. Boromir pointed at them, and turned to Gandalf with an odd look.

"Who would these people be?" the man asked, and some of the others present nodded. Neji clamped a hand down on Naruto, to keep the blond from jumping in and 'introducing' them. After giving Naruto a look he stepped forwards, and dropped to one knee and one fist on the ground to keep balance, and was mimicked by the other three. The surrounding folk stared in bewilderment.

"I am Neji Hyuuga known as Falcon. These are Naruto Uzumaki known as Fox. Kiba Inuzuka known as Wolf and Hinata Hyuuga known as Mouse. We are ANBU Squad 12 of Konoha." Neji said, and ignored the odd looks he got from the elves, dwarves, hobbits and humans. Elrond stood up, and nodded.

"Very well, they will accompany the Fellowship, as I have no reason to doubt Gandalf's choice." Elrond said, before an argument could break out. Neji rose back to his feet, as did the others, and nodded.

"_How the hell did you manage to learn their language so fast?"_ Kiba grumbled, having not gotten past the basics of the Common Tongue. Neji shrugged, and noted that the 'Fellowship' was breaking off to go gather their things. He glanced around, before noting that most everyone was leaving, and nodded.

"_How else? I bet Hinata-sama is just as good. After all, Hiashi never liked one of us falling behind in anything."_ Neji replied, before unwrapping the scroll, and writing to Tsunade. He needed to tell her that the mission was going to take longer than expected.

(A/N:…flop okay, done now…leeme get my wind back and I'll get moving on the next chapter.)


	4. Preparations

Fellowship of Ninja Chapter4 Moving South

**Summary:** didn't change

**Disclaimer:** Don't own Naruto, or Lord Of The Rings. Simple to remember, yeah?

**A/N:** Danimals12 – I did? And Thanks for the complement, and I'll do my best to get this chapter up faster…hopefully I can.

Flightless Bird – Yeah, I have the books, and movies; so don't be surprised if I blend the two.

rose-of-alabaster – Four days of having them wreck the place along with the twins…I think he'd be tired of them…and yeah, that would have been funny. And thank you

'_Thinking'_

"_Elven/Shinobi"_

"Common"

'**Kyuubi'**

Chapter Four: Preparations

After the council they were off…or should have been in the shinobi's eyes. They were told they were to wait for reports from the elven scouts to come back. When the shinobi heard that news they were not pleased, and even Hinata huffed in annoyance.

"How long?" Neji had asked, and he received a shrug, and a guess.

"A month…maybe." The elf had said, before leaving. Neji ground his teeth, and he heard Naruto growl. Kiba had grumbled a good few curses, and Hinata had sighed. A month. With nothing to do. Because they had to wait for reports to get back in.

This was going to be a very interesting month or so for the Fellowship.

--

"Alright, time for practice." Neji said, after the third day of nothing. Shinobi were not meant to be kept like this on a mission. It irritated them to no end.

"But Elrond-sama got mad at us the last time we used the gardens…" Hinata said, trailing off once Neji stared at her. She went red under her mask, and began to fiddle with her fingers. Neji sighed, but relented.

"Then we use the river." Neji said, and Hinata nodded, feeling happy that Neji had acknowledged her intelligence on the matter. So, they left for the river, making sure to leave their bags and cloaks behind. It was only going to be a simple sparring match, no techniques – or bloodlines in the Hyuuga's case. That also meant no partners, meaning Akamaru was left to guard the room. Kiba was muttering darkly the entire way to the river. Hinata was talking to Naruto about how fun this was going to be, and Naruto was chatting right back. Neji smirked, remembering the times when she would faint if he even so much as look at her. Now she was the one talking to him. While they were walking they hadn't noticed the stares their ANBU uniform and armor brought them. Though Neji noted that the group that was now called the Fellowship of the Ring was walking after them, obviously they wanted to know what they could do. Under his mask, Neji's smirk grew. So, the practice was going to turn into an exhibition then huh? Fine, if they didn't trust the old one, then they may as well show them that they were more skilled than shinobi their age had a right to be – as Tsunade put it once about the Konoha 11 – especially when other villages had put out a 'flee on sight' order if one of them were to appear on the battle field.

They reached the river and, without so much as a passing thought, stepped out onto the surface of the water, and felt it ripple and waver as it took their weight. Water-walking was hard, as it used muscles in the legs that one didn't know the legs had. It also required chakra control as – unlike trees that were stable – the surface of this medium always moved. One wrong move and one could end up under the water rather than above it.

"_Ready?"_ Neji asked, and waited for the others to take their places. Kiba flexed his hands, the gloves he wore had sharp steel claws attached to them, so he was careful to blunt them with chakra and not to fist his hands. Naruto had on only one glove with a vein that spiraled in the center – on his right hand – that was used to help control the _Rasengan_ and he wore it out of habit. Neji and Hinata were wearing identical gloves that were veined to follow the chakra paths in their hands, meant to help extend the reach of their _Juken_ and once again they were worn out of habit.

As soon as they took their places, and nodded, Neji gave the signal for them to begin.

Kiba and Naruto launched themselves after the biggest threat first – Neji. Hinata expected as much, and charged Kiba, landing a solid kick to her boyfriend's side. Said wolf boy tumbled, and rolled on the water's surface, and scrambled back to his feet, and went out for vengeance. Hinata dodged the first rake of claws, and caught his hand. Kiba paled under his mask, as she drew back her open palm, and slammed it into his gut. He flew again, and almost hit Naruto, as Neji kicked the blond away.

"_Damnit! Okay dog boy. Team up against the Hyuugas?"_ Naruto asked as he got back to his feet to see that the two Hyuugas were standing shoulder to shoulder, waiting for them to get back up. Kiba growled, and nodded.

Naruto and Kiba moved off to different sides, walking around the other two in a battle circle. Neji and Hinata changed their positions so they were back-to-back and waited for the circling two to charge. Hyuuga were patient, if not by nature it was by practice.

Kiba and Naruto were decidedly not.

They charged after a few moments, one going for each. Neji hooked his arms into Hinata's and flipped her over his head as he bent double to avoid Naruto, who had been aiming at Hinata. Hinata had anticipated this once she felt her cousin hook his arms into hers, and swung herself over his back, and landed squarely on Kiba's back. Needless to say Kiba let out a grunt of pain, and fell flat on his face as her full weight landed on him, along with the strength of Neji behind it. Kiba was out. But so was Neji, as Naruto had cut his feet out from under him as he and Hinata took Kiba out. That left Hinata and Naruto to fight, and decide which team won, as Kiba and Neji made their way back to shore. Though with a final crack Hinata showed Naruto why Hiashi said she would be a fine heiress to the Hyuuga family name. She decked him out. Neji clapped, and Kiba started laughing as Naruto got up rubbing his jaw.

"_Okay…okay, owww...You win. That hurt."_ Naruto muttered as he and Hinata walked towards the shore, Hinata repeatedly apologizing to the blond. When they heard a few cheers from the hobbits they turned to see the rest of the Fellowship had come out to see what they could do. Neji and his team stared, as they tried to understand what was being said, as the hobbits talked too fast for even the Hyuuga to understand.

"Slow down! We are just leaning you language…" Neji said, after a few more non-understandable comments were made. The hobbits slowed their chatter, and it seemed that Aragorn and Legolas were fighting laughter.

"Okay…you," Naruto pointed at Merry, "first question you were asking?" he said, and Merry nodded excitedly, before asking what he wanted, slower this time.

"How did you do that?! You were walking on water, not even the elves can do that!" the Halfling exclaimed, and Naruto shrugged, and turned to Neji. Said prodigy sighed, before answering.

"…that is a question that would take too long to explain." Neji answered, and was met with silence. Aragorn was the next to speak.

"It seems that Gandalf's choice was correct." He said, giving the other man, Boromir, a pointed look. The other shrugged, and returned the stare.

"So? You say skill, but they were fighting each other, not orcs." He responded, and the ANBU got the feeling that the man didn't like them.

"We don't even know what they look like," The man went on, and added in a comment that made the shinobi bristle, "besides, isn't one of them female?" he asked, though his tone made it clear that he knew Hinata was female, and didn't like the idea of traveling with a girl. Aragorn blinked, and turned to the shinobi with an apologetic look.

"So, you don't like the fact that we wear masks huh? Or the fact that one of our group is female? One we can fix, the other you have to deal with." Neji replied in a monotone, that the other knew full well was hiding his anger. Boromir stepped back, as he and the others felt a sense of controlled anger from the young man. Neji brought his hand up, and was copied by the others, and removed his mask.

"There. We have removed our masks, now kindly keep you mouth shut on the matter, and on Lady Hinata's gender. She is just as capable as the rest of us, as you would have seen if you were paying any type of attention to the match." Neji continued, and the man snarled at the barb.

"I do not take orders from children!" he growled. Kiba raised an eyebrow, and Hinata gave the man an icy stare to rival her cousin's, as Naruto glared. Neji gave him an odd look, and sighed.

"We are trained to kill long before your people are. If the fact that none are considered warriors before twenty holds true. We are trained as soon as we can hold a weapon, and are considered warriors once we pass an exam." Neji retorted, and Boromir's face went red – either from anger or embarrassment none of the shinobi cared.

"You think we are children. That thought process would get you killed in our society." Kiba said, as soon as Neji's words sunk in with the group. Once it did there was an outburst of chatter with the Halflings, and the warriors of the group stared at them.

"We will be going back to the rooms now." Neji said, and began walking off, followed by the others. As soon as they got into the room Kiba began swearing, and Hinata hit him. Naruto chuckled, and Neji sighed. Yeah, it was better that the others didn't see them act like this.

After that a routine was made and they would be at the river every three days to train. For two months they continued this, and by the end of the second month the matches were lasting almost all day. They still had no cloaks, and some of the people who watched wondered if they felt the cold.

By the time the scouts came back the shinobi were all but 'biting at the bit' as some would say. They wanted to get moving, as Tsunade had begun to wonder what was taking so long, though it gave them time to talk her around into letting them accompany the Fellowship. She agreed, after hearing that it would be a good way to make treaties and such. Though she was reluctant to leave the ANBU squad there, their intelligence was not to be denied. Still, she was interesting to hear about the world, and said she was recording all of this on a separate scroll for later use. So, as things went the two months weren't entirely wasted.

"_The Fellowship leaves in a few days."_ Neji said, as he came back into the room. He had been eavesdropping on the conversation between one of the scouts and Elrond. From what he heard he figured that the Fellowship would be leaving soon, as he heard the elven lord say that they had better wait no longer. It was fine by him, and the other shinobi. They set about looking for their stuff (read: hunting down the twins to get them to return their things) and packing them away in preparation.

When they were ready to leave Elrond had given them supplies for the trip, cloaks for the winter – even the shinobi – and they were ready to go.

"_Well, we're off…let's hope this doesn't take too long" _Naruto said, and Neji sighed.

That boy had an uncanny ability to jinx things.

(A/N: Done! Ha….okay that took too long to write…)


	5. Moving South

**Summary:** didn't change

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing but a laptop, and a good handful of Oc's but they're not making any type of appearance.

**A/N:** Uh…don't kill me? Please? I have issues with my classes, and stuff…er, I'll be hiding now…

Danimals21 – don't worry, he'll get his butt kicked

Flightless_Bird – thank you, and yeah, Naruto is going to regret that

rose-of-alabaster – that will be fun, once we get to that. But for now it's them and the Fellowship

Dareagon – Thanks!

"_Elven/Shinobi"_

"Common"

'**Kyuubi' **

Chapter Five: Moving South

"I hate the wind…" Naruto grumbled, as he wrapped his cloak tighter around him. Under the cloak Elrond had given them he had on the black cloak of the ANBU, and he was _still_ cold! Even the mask didn't help much. Neji sighed, and shook his head. The blond was always complaining about something. He chuckled when he heard the hobbits mutter agreements with the blond. Well, it seemed he had quite a few people who agreed with him. Hinata and Kiba were doing fine, more so than the others, as they had the added protection of a living fur coat – Akamaru. The dog was big enough that he was carrying the two, and the heat he radiated kept the two warm. Still after a few nights of travel the weather changed. Which many of the people were grateful for, even if they didn't voice it.

'**Damn wind…Kit, stop whining…' **Kyuubi grumbled, as they continued on, even as the wind died, and the sun came out to warm the group.

'_HEY! You're whining! Hypocrite!'_ Naruto snapped, and Kyuubi sighed, sounding like an exasperated older sibling.

'**I have a reason to. You're whining to me, and I have no way to block your annoying voice out.' **He commented, and Naruto grumbled a few things, before giving up the argument. He had never won a single one with Kyuubi.

Stupid fox.

Still, they were getting somewhere, even if the hobbits complained that everything looked the same. The ANBU knew better. To the shinobi the landscape was not the same, and the mountains proved to be the perfect reference point. The peaks were getting larger a.k.a. closer. After more walking they settled down for camp.

"Ah…well now, this looks like a good place." Gandalf said, as they made a fire, the first in many days. The hobbits were especially happy about this news. The shinobi on the other hand weren't so sure about lighting a fire on a hilltop, regardless how well hidden it was. Even if the area was clear, it was only for the moment. So, while the Fellowship set up a fire, Neji collected the others.

"_Kiba, you take west. Naruto, south. Hinata-sama, east. I'll be taking north." _He said, and the others nodded and took off in the directions he had given them. He was about to go off as well before he noted a few curious glances from the hobbits and dwarf. Boromir's look was openly suspicious. Aragorn and Legolas simply tended to the fire, acting like they weren't as curious as the hobbits about what the shinobi were doing. Neji sighed, and took off, ignoring the group for now. If they wanted to know so badly they would ask. He was not going to tell them anything otherwise.

He knew that by now Hinata had cleared her area; after all she too had the Byakugan. He activated said bloodline, and scanned his area for anything that would pose any type of threat, and let out a breath of relief when he noted that it was clear, and his range of vision was larger than other clan members. He then darted back to the campsite, to see that Hinata had already returned.

"_Neji-niisan…we made some food."_ She said, holding out a bowl of soup. Behind his mask Neji smiled.

"_Thank you, Hinata-sama. The other two should be finished soon."_ He said, nodding and sitting down to eat. This, of course, meant removing the mask again. Not that it was too much of a problem seeing as how they had already shown their faces, but still…he sighed, and took the mask off, and hung it from his belt. Hinata copied him, and began eating. He glanced over to the Fellowship, and saw that the hobbits were openly staring at him and his cousin. His look finally got one to ask what had been on their minds for quite a bit.

"How do you two see?" one asked; Hinata went red, and Neji stared at the Halfling. Where had that come from? They had eyes; shouldn't it have been obvious that they saw in the same fashion that they did?

"Ah…w-we see the same way you do, we're not blind." Hinata answered, as Neji simply went back to his food, deeming the question too stupid to answer. The Halflings, and a few of the others in the group began a 'hushed' conversation about that information.

"But their eyes are white…" a Halfling, Merry, muttered. Pippin was nodding, and looking over his shoulder at the two shinobi who were pretending not to hear them.

"Yes…but Gandalf wouldn't have asked them to come along if they were going to be a burden, and being blind is definitely a burden." Frodo pointed out, silencing all opposition. Neji glanced to the old wizard, and saw the white-haired man's eyes twinkle. So…he could hear them as well. Neji sighed, and cleaned out his bowl before placing it down by Hinata's.

"OI!!! You better not have eaten everything!" a loud voice called, and Hinata sighed. She recognized that voice. So did Neji, but he preferred to ignore him. Though a loud bark alerted him that the dog was going for him, and Hinata in one shot. He looked up just as the beast crashed down on the both of them.

"_Kiba-kun! Get Akamaru off us_!" Hinata yelped, as Neji was currently face-down in the dirt. The dog-nin grinned, as he pushed his mask up.

"_Hah! Payback!"_ he grinned, as he heard muted death-threats from a certain brunet.

"_Inuzuka…get your dog off my boyfriend."_ Naruto snapped, as he came into view. Kiba stretched, and motioned for Akamaru to get off the two Hyuuga. As soon as he could Neji rolled onto his back, and let out an aggravated sigh. Kiba dropped to the ground in a sitting position, and pulled out a bowl for himself and Akamaru. Naruto followed suite, and soon the two were arguing. Nothing serious, but loud enough that the entire campsite could hear them.

"_I'll show you! You pull a stunt like that again and I will hurt you!"_ Naruto snapped, and Kiba laughed.

"_Right…you and what army fox-face?"_ Kiba taunted.

"_Please, you two, we are supposed to be working together. Now, kindly stop arguing."_ The Elf said, and was rewarded with a glare from the both of them.

"_I agree with him. The mission has barely begun, and you two are already arguing like academy students."_ Neji said, and that comment got the two to stop glaring at the elf, who was beginning to shift uncomfortably under their stares. Another thing that distracted them was a loud shout from Boromir, and then equally loud shouts from the hobbits. When the turned to look, they saw that the four hobbits had taken the larger man down. Though the fact that he was laughing was a sign that it was all horseplay, and nothing serious. The shinobi joined the others in a small laugh at the more muscular man being taken down by the likes of four hobbits. But when Neji glanced to the sky, as he leaned back, he scrambled up to his feet, activating his bloodline. One lone 'cloud' was coming closer to the camp. A cloud of birds that seemed to be moving by someone else's will, and Gandalf had warned them that the spies of another powerful, and traitorous, wizard were everywhere.

"_SHI-! Not good!_ Everyone! DOWN!" he barked, as he deactivated his bloodline, and tossed dirt over the fire. He was glad that his order was not questioned, as his team dove for cover, some holding protesting hobbits…or dwarves. Gimli was going to give Kiba a hard time afterwards, he was sure of it. As he dove for cover, after erasing the traces of the camp, he heard Boromir muttering about taking orders from a 'pretty boy' who was 'too young to be any help at all' and Neji was sure from the way Naruto's chakra spiked that the blond heard the insult as well. This was going to be another problem. As soon as the birds passed Naruto was going to try and rip the man's throat out. Hell, Neji was surprised he didn't abandon his cover and try to do so right then.

The birds flew overhead, passing over the areas where the Fellowship, and ANBU, were hidden. They turned and wheeled off, after not finding any trace of the group. And like Neji predicted, as soon as the birds were gone, and everyone was back on their feet, Naruto had taken Boromir off-guard, and slammed the taller man to the ground with an angry growl.

"Listen you. The two Hyuuga may have patience when it comes to stupid and calloused remarks, but if you say something like that again within hearing of me I will tear your throat out." Naruto snarled, as he pressed a kunai to the man's throat.

The Fellowship was stunned, some because of the speed of the attack, and others because of the venom coming from the blond's voice. It was clear that Naruto wanted to kill the person under him, if the chakra or aura around him was any indication.

"_Naruto. Get off him. If he is not endangering the mission, he is not a threat. True, I would not mind doing the same thing, but we have other things to think about right now." _Neji said, and drew a startled look from both Aragorn and Legolas. Naruto just huffed, and stood.

"_Fine. But when it's over I reserve the right to take him out."_ Naruto snapped, and folded his arms.

Neji didn't reply.

Gandalf coughed, and motioned for them to continue. They fell back into line, the shinobi alongside them, as the continued their trek off to where only Gandalf knew where.

(A/N: Much to effort for such a short thing! AUGH! I need inspiration to keep going! +falls over+)


	6. Ice and Water

**Summary:** didn't change

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing but a laptop, and a good handful of Oc's but they're not making any type of appearance.

**A/N:** It ATE my fanfics! My com is EVIL I tell you!

JuMiKu – Thank you! And yeah…I'm not too good with writing relationships unless that's the entire plot of the thing…and I don't want to do that. I'll try better with description on situations and relationships…And he is? Oops.

Alasse Telrunya – Uh…no idea. My muse takes things and runs. Never know what she's up to. And I'll try.

Flightless Bird – Hmn…you do? +grin+ me no say annnny more! And long periods of WB and school? Evil on a stick!

"_Elven/Shinobi"_

"Common"

'**Kyuubi' **

Chapter Six: Ice and Water

The winds got worse as they climbed higher, up the mountain. Naruto was sure that he head Kyuubi snore once or twice, just as Neji was sure he saw Naruto visibly twitch. The corners of his mouth quirked into a small grin.

"Is something the matter _Naruto-kun_? He asked, more out of need to hear his boyfriend talk than actual worry. The worry was there, after all Naruto was normally loud if the mission didn't require stealth. And trudging up a mountain, playing guard duty to a bunch of civilians, was not a stealth mission.

So, in short, yes he was worried about his love's health, mental and physical – though he had yet to see something that could take him down for more than a day or two.

"_Don't you start…it's bad enough that HE is making noise…don't add to my misery."_ Naruto grumbled. Neji guessed it was the fox again. After all, that…resident of his was known for being quite a nuisance, to put it lightly. He had heard Naruto arguing with it a few times, and he always lost. Then again one did not go up against a being of that age and expect to win. Then again this was Naruto…Neji made a mental note to not get in an argument with either of them – Kyuubi for it age, and Naruto for his sheer stubbornness.

He looked over to the elf, who was obviously lighter than the others as he was walking on top of the snow, without the use of chakra…yes he did check and was slightly jealous of the elf for that. Him and the other ANBU wouldn't waste the chakra on that unless it was needed. He trudged his way over to said elf, as he heard him mutter something.

"_Legolas-san…what is the matter?" _Neji asked, as he came up beside the distracted elf. Legolas started and then glanced down to the masked shinobi.

"_Eh? Oh, forgive me…I just heard a voice on the winds and…there it is again!"_ Legolas said, shaking his head, as if to clear it_ "Please tell me it's not just me hearing things in my old age." _He said, laughing lightly. Neji shook his head, as he noticed the other shinobi behind him had perked up.

"…_no I think we heard it too…"_ Neji sighed, and then looked up, as something moved.

His eyes widened in shock at what he saw, granted he had his byakugan active, but it still would provide only a few seconds amount of warning at this rate.

"EVERYONE MOVE!!" he _screamed_ as he darted over the snow, grabbed the nearest Halfling and pressed himself against the mountain-face, and the rest of his squad copied him, Akamaru knocking Gandalf, Aragorn and Boromir into the mountain-face, and they were followed by a bewildered Legolas and Gimli. No sooner did they take cover than an alarming amount of snow drop down on top of them.

---------------------------------------

As soon as they had all worked their way out of the snow, Naruto begin grumbling.

"Okay…who's bright idea was it to go over a damn mountain?! Is there no other way?!" he asked loudly, before Neji jammed an elbow into his side.

"_Sorry…"_ he muttered, and Neji sighed. Though his outburst had gotten the rest of the Fellowship talking.

"Gandalf…this way may end up being the end of the Halflings…" Aragorn muttered, taking the wizard to the side. "Are you sure the other way is not better? If we had not been warned in advance we may have been buried in the avalanche, and Naruto does have a point…this was not the best idea." He continued, as Gandalf looked down.

Meanwhile Neji and Naruto were arguing. Kiba and Hinata were keeping their distance, remembering the last person that had gotten in the middle of one of their arguments.

"_Look, I know this route is unfavorable, but snapping like that was not needed. They cannot predict such things as the weather."_ Neji said, and Naruto snorted.

"_Okay, fine. My comment was unneeded. But it doesn't take a genius to realize that all this snow-"_ here he swept his arms wide to gesture at the amount of snow that had almost buried them_. "-plus wind, with an evil voice sounding in it mind you, would not create a problem!"_ Naruto snapped back. Neji rolled his eyes, and shrugged when he remembered that his eyes could not be seen through his mask.

"_They could not hear the voice. Legolas did, but he thought he was hearing things, remember?"_ Neji replied, and Naruto huffed, and crossed his arms.

"…_if you say so."_ He grumbled, and Neji shrugged again.

"_Anyway, they seem to have come to some type of decision."_ The long-haired brunet replied, as Gandalf sighed and relented to Aragorn's persistence.

It was off to the Mines of Moria.

----------------------------

The trek off the mountain was almost as bad as the one up it. Granted there were no avalanches, but the snow had piled up well above the Halfling's heads. Kiba, by that point, took pity on them, and talked Akamaru into letting the four ride on his back. That was the best they could do, as their techniques were meant for scouting and battle – not clearing paths through snow. This meant that they were stuck following behind Boromir and Aragorn, as the two cleared a path. Naruto was back to grumbling, and Neji simply pulled his cloak closer. Though he did managed to silence Naruto by coming up beside him and somehow managed to get between the cloaks and his love's body.

"Eh?!" Naruto squeaked, as he felt something warm against his side, a very familiar warm thing.

"You're warm. Keep moving, we're being left behind." Neji replied. Naruto nodded, and scrambled to catch up, but not before wrapping an arm around Neji's waist. Under his mask he was grinning like a fiend now. If Neji had been mad at him he would not have done such a thing, so he guessed that all was good – for now.

When they finally managed to get off the mountain the Halflings scrambled off Akamaru. It had taken the entire day to get back off the mountain. Now they had to start another trek off towards where the doors to the Mines of Moria lay.

Once they got there they found there was a slight problem with opening the doors.

The doors to the mines were nowhere in sight.

They were supposedly right in front of them, but even the shinobi couldn't pick them out. Sighing in frustration they relented to setting up camp near the area. They kept as far away from the water as possible – at the insistence of the ANBU and Gandalf. No one questioned the logic.

Though that didn't stop Pippin from chucking a stone into the lake out of boredom, and thus angering the ANBU. One in particular actually.

"_Idiot! We camped far from the water so we wouldn't disturb the water! Were you not listening?"_ Kiba demanded, as he grabbed the hobbit, and hauled him away from the lake, back to the camp ranting all the way. When he got back to the camp he noted that Legolas was acting as if he was not trying to hide laughter, Aragorn was snickering, and Gandalf's mouth was quirked into a smile. And he could tell from the way his teammates shoulders were shaking that they too were holding in laughter. Now the people who couldn't understand him looked either annoyed or confused, and some a mix of both. He growled, and sat down, muttering under his breath. Hinata patted his arm, and he sighed, as he calmed down. Though it looked like they were going to be camping out at the wall for a while.

When the sun set fully, revealing the stars and moon that was when things began happening. The section of wall they were camped by began to glow. This, of course, got everyone's attention.

"Whoa! _What the hell?_ Someone mind explaining?" Naruto asked, as the patterns and words became more visible. They stared at the glowing runes in amazement, even the shinobi, as Gandalf read aloud what was written.

"Well? What does that mean?" Naruto demanded, as the doors remained closed. He was tapping his foot, and looked like he was getting extremely bored.

"That is plain enough. If you are a friend, speak the password, and the doors will open, and you can enter." Gimli said, as if it were plain logic. Naruto growled.

"Fine. Who here knows the password then?" he asked, and was meet with silence.

"…so we traveled here for nothing?" Hinata asked, before Naruto could explode. Which, of course, he was very close to doing, most of the time, unlike a few years ago when the smallest thing set him off.

"No, no…I will get the doors to open. Do not worry." Gandalf reassured them, and the rest of the group wandered off to wait for him to get the doors open.

Kiba wandered over to Legolas, as the others wandered off as well. The Elf was watching the mage with something that looked like amusement.

"_So, what does that door say again?"_ he asked the elf, and Legolas shrugged, and reiterated what Gandalf had said, for Kiba's benefit.

"…_speak friend and enter…_huh?" the group stared at the sound of the doors grinding opening. First they looked to the door, and then to the elf – who fidgeted under the stares. Kiba, being an ANBU, had ducked out as soon as the doors had opened as he knew what was going to happen as soon as they figured out who had gotten the doors to open.

And that was when things got messy.

As soon as the doors opened something began moving in the lake, before erupting from below the surface. A lot of somethings, that all targeted the Fellowship. Frodo being the first. Sam raced forwards as soon as one of the tentacles grabbed Frodo, and began hacking away at it. Kiba shoved him to the side, and sliced through it with his clawed gloves. Meanwhile the rest of the group was fending the tentacles, and backing up towards the mines.

"_Go! Move, back to the others!" _Kiba snapped, shoving Sam and Frodo towards the doors, even as he backed up. As soon as they all made it across the threshold the ANBU went to try and close the doors, but there was no need to. The tentacles that had swarmed the Fellowship seized the doors, and slammed them shut, and plunged the area into darkness. Before they all panicked at the loss of light Gandalf lit the tip of staff with a dim light, illuminating a good few feet around him. But when the hobbits clustered together at the sight that was illuminated he wasn't so sure it was a good idea.

The area around them was littered with skulls, bones, rubble, and sometimes complete skeletons – with armor.

Dwarven armor.

The Mines had long been attacked and all dwarves killed.

"No turning back now. The only exit lies at the end of the path. Come on! We need to keep moving." Gandalf cried out, as he led the Fellowship forwards. The shinobi followed after them, like the shadows cast by the glow.

( A/N: Took waaay to long…again. I'm so sorry!)


	7. Shadows and Echos

**Summary:** didn't change

**Disclaimer:** I hate repeating myself over and over and over again. I don't own shit.

**A/N:** …and here the next chapter is…I felt like I was pulling teeth…my own teeth for that matter.

KaiLunatic – thanks for the review, and what? It did? Well…that wasn't what I was aiming for…I hope this chapter fixes it a bit.

Grava – Thanks! Here it is, and they will find out…soon. And in a very big way. I has plaaaans~

FlameingWings – Thanks, and oh they will find out soon…hehehehee~

Britachisbride – uh …+was never one for dogs+ sorry about the wait, but things got in the way and I prefer not to say what.

Kelly Of The Evenstar – Hee~ Thanks! Oh, well I'm keeping them in the entire time. At least I plan to…and you are? Cool!

KateStar98 – Really? Thank you!

rose-of-alabaster – you do know I have now learned how to spell 'alabaster' typing your name, right? Anyway, so sorry about the time it takes, but I have a tendency to go over things a few +coughlotcough+ times before I consider even putting it up…and now time for action!...kinda? Well there is gonna be plenty in the next chapter!

Flightless Bird – it all depends on what you think it will be…and thanks for that, and yeah…I will

"_Elven/Shinobi"_

"Common"

'**Kyuubi' **

Chapter Seven: Shadows and Echos

They had only the light from Gandalf's staff to guide them. This was not a new experience to the ANBU squad, not by a long shot. Granted they went without light for one of the tests they had to take to get the ranks they now held, it was no different. But from the way the hobbits clustered around the wizard they were frightened. The elf seemed fine, The dwarf was muttering under his breath about…something. Probably about what had happened to his fellows, and swearing vengeance. That sounded appropriate for his tone of voice. Aragorn seemed to be just fine with the dark, but Boromir seemed a bit more on edge than normal. Neji hit Naruto before the blond could take vengeance while the man was jumpy.

"_I wasn't going to hurt him…"_ he grumbled, and Neji hit his head again.

"_Quit acting like an academy student. He's done nothing as of late, so give it a rest." _He replied, and Naruto made an odd half grumble half snort noise before nodding. He walked forwards to see if he could get Gandalf to tell them what the hell they were going to do now.

Neji had fallen back to speak with Aragorn about the legends, more out of curiosity than a need to strike up a conversation. Though that was second on his list as the friendlier they seemed to the Fellowship the less likely they would be to disobey when one of them needed them to listen. Kiba was doing the same with the excitable hobbits – who had taken a liking to him. Hinata was also with Kiba, but being the more soft-spoken one she was not saying much, but her gentle presence made the less afraid of the dark.

'**Tch…afraid of the dark, are we…hmn…it would have been fun to see the blond man scream like a girl…'** the Kyuubi commented, as Naruto chatted with the wizard.

'_Yes…but not now! Shush! I think I missed something thanks to your loud mouth…'_ Naruto grumbled, but the Kyuubi sighed and repeated what he had heard.

'**Fireworks. How they are made to go off with magic instead of fire. Hmn…sounds like an idea, if it works with chakra.'** It said, in a bored tone.

'…_I hate you'_ Naruto grumbled, and the fox merely laughed.

------------------------

After more walking they finally stopped for a small break, as Gandalf tried to look through his mental map of the place – but as broken down as the place looked they had a feeling that it may have been messed up slightly. But that was all it would take after all…He was talking to Gimli, the dwarf who had been in the area more than once. But – as stated before – damage had been done to the area while the two had not visited so mental maps had been messed up.

After a discussion and deciding on the way, they were off again, and the shinobi were glad they had trained in the dark, for they were not taken off guard by chasms opening under their feet.

The Fellowship on the other hand was blind but for the small light given off by Gandalf's staff, and often were surprised by finding the ground simply drop away at their feet.

By the time they had to stop for Pippin to gather his courage to jump over one of the large chasms, the ANBU had had quite enough.

"Okay…that's it…we're not getting anywhere like this. The longer we stay here the more chance of something getting us. You guys are all but blind." Kiba said, folding his arms, as he stood in the faint glow surrounding the group. The other three stood just a bit out of it, cast mostly in shadow.

"Then what do you propose?" Legolas asked, and Kiba shrugged.

"Well…not much I can do in the way of light, but I don't think Akamaru would mind letting them ride him again." He said, and said dog laid down so the hobbits could scramble on. It did beat walking.

"One of us could walk in front." Neji offered, ignoring the looks of surprise from the Fellowship.

"And what good will that do?" asked Boromir. Neji shook his head.

"We may not be able to see in the dark, but have learned to make due without sight." He replied, and before anyone else could make comment on such a remark Gandalf cut in.

"Good, good. Yes, please one of you do so. It would be nice to know of the breaks in the path before we hit upon them." The elder wizard responded, and Neji nodded, and told Hinata to follow in front of the group.

Then they started off again, this time Hinata was in front of the group, while the others followed behind Gandalf and Gimli.

The footfalls echoed off the walls, first was Hinata's barely-more-than-a-whisper footfalls – echoed by the rest of her squad – the dull stump of Gimli's dwarf boots, the heavy tread of Boromir, the light step of Legolas, the soft padding of Akamaru carrying the Halflings, followed by the slow and firm footfalls of Aragorn.

But under the footfalls of their own the shinobi picked up another noise…another set that did not quite belong…and it was no echo.

------------------------

After more hours of marching along, with Hinata pointing out the areas where the floor dropped away, they came to a passage that made Gandalf stop.

"I have no memory of this place at all!" he said, looking uncertain for once in their travels. There were three ways, all to the east. The left one plunged downwards, the middle one was flat smooth and narrow, and the right one climbed upwards.

"I think this would be a good place to stop for the night. It must be past midnight." Naruto commented, earning himself a few glances wondering how he was able to tell time in the dark place. But Gandalf only nodded.

"Yes indeed. A break is needed before we move on. Now, staying out in the hall is not an idea we should follow…but where to stay?" He commented, and looked around the area.

"There. That looks like a good area." Hinata commented, speaking loudly for the first time in a long while. But the group followed her finger, and saw that off to the side of the arch that split into three ways was a door, leading into another room. The hobbits, Merry and Pippin quickly scrambled from Akamaru and charged the doors, happy to finally being able to sleep. Naruto darted after them, and seized the both of them by their shirts.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! You guys can't see in the dark! If you race in there you could fall." He said, as he put them back down, and let Gandalf walk forwards. Said wizard had that gleam in his eyes that clearly said he was doing his best not to laugh. Naruto scowled from behind the mask.

"Ah! And the young man was right! About the falling that is…" the wizard exclaimed, as they all filed in, after the wizard, to find him pointing at a large hole in front of his feet.

"One of you may have fallen in and still be wondering when you were going to strike the bottom." Aragorn commented, and received a nudge in the side from the elf. And a glare from Kiba, who had taken a liking to the hobbits.

"Yes, well, all that aside, we need to watch our step in the dark." Gandalf coughed, breaking up the mild disagreement before it could get any worse. This was agreed upon by all.

"Well, we know this is a defensible area. It looks to be a guard room, right?" Naruto asked, turning to Gimli. The dwarf nodded.

"A guard room indeed. A perfect place to watch the three halls, and look, a well for the guards as well!" he said, nodding again. "But the lid to the well has been broken," he went on, pointing to the cracked slab of stone "so it would be best to listen to Gandalf. Watch your step!" he said, and once again the Fellowship and ANBU knew that they were wise words indeed.

Though Pippin seemed drawn to the well, and as the others were unrolling blankets and making their beds against the wall furthest from the well, he crept closer to it. He noted a skeleton on it, wrapped in the rusted chains of buckets, and an arrow protruding from its eye socket. Driven by curiosity he reached out, and grabbed the arrow and twisted it.

The skeleton fell, dragging all the chains and buckets with it, making enough noise to alert everyone within the room.

The ANBU had their weapons drawn and looked ready to kill, and Akamaru had his lips pulled back, baring his teeth in a low growl, the remaining hobbits had clustered together, small daggers drawn, Legolas had gone for his bow, Gimli was looking around, his ax held in both hands quite firmly, and both Men had their hands on the hilts of their swords. Only Gandalf seemed undisturbed, sans being very angry with one hobbit.

"Fool of a Took! The next time you have the need to do something of the sort, throw yourself in so you will be of no further nuisance!" he growled, and Pippin nodded quite a few times before racing back to the other Halflings, as the others relaxed.

Until of course they heard a different sound coming from the shaft. It sounded like hammers, and the tapping seemed to be a signal of sorts.

"…well this is a fine mess…I don't think sleeping all at once is a good idea now. Who's with me on that?" Naruto asked, and when no one disagreed he nodded.

'**Make that idiot of a hobbit take first watch with you…he deserves it for being such a dumbass.'** The Kyuubi growled, thoroughly annoyed with the hobbit's actions of late.

"I'll take first watch, and Pippin…since you're most likely the cause of this, you get to stay up with me!" he finished, if only to placate the fox before it began cursing fit to burn someone's ears clean off their head. Pippin nodded miserably.

-----------------------------

As their watch drew on Naruto sighed, as he watched the room, and one fidgety Halfling.

"Alright…go get some sleep. Just let this be a lesson to you, stop doing stupid stuff!" he commented, giving the hobbit a nudge in the direction of the wall. Pippin nodded, muttered something, and went to go to sleep. The last he saw of Naruto was the ANBU shaking one of his companions awake to change shifts.

"_Neji…come on…wake up! I want sleep too…"_ Naruto muttered, shaking his lover by the shoulders. Neji swatted at him, before sitting up.

"_I'm up, I'm up…"_ he muttered, as he rolled his shoulders. _"My shift…hmn? Gandalf?"_ at this Naruto turned around to see what his boyfriend had been talking about. Gandalf was indeed up, and seemed to be thinking over something. Neji rolled to his feet, and waved the blond off. Naruto nodded and went to sleep.

"Gandalf? What is keeping you up?" the ANBU asked, as he sat down next to the Grey Wizard. The wizard blew out some pipe-smoke and shook his head.

"Nothing, and everything." He answered. Neji tilted his head to one side, wondering if he had heard wrong. It was an odd and cryptic statement, and it was not what he had expected.

"Nothing…and everything? Does it have to do with what way we need to go? Or the footsteps following behind us?" he asked, and Gandalf chuckled.

"Ah! So you heard them as well. Do not worry, he is harmless. As to the first question…maybe." He said, and blew out another smoke ring. Neji folded his arms.

"How do you know this?" he asked, and the only response he got was a smile. Neji scowled.

"Keep pulling faces like that and you'll end up looking like me." Gandalf chuckled, startling the ANBU. He still had his mask on, how did the man know what his expression was!? And his laughter was not helping. His scowl deepened and he settled for a long stretch of silence as the wizard continued to smoke his pipe, and think, while he resorted to checking the areas as far as his Byakugan could see.

-------------------------------------------------

By the time Gandalf said that he was ready to move again it was Kiba's shift. As Gandalf went about rousing the others Kiba shook his teammates up as well.

"_He says he may have found the way out…"_ he commented as he woke Hinata up last, and waited for her to get up to her feet. Once they were all awake and on their feet they made their way to the rest of the Fellowship, and learned that they were to be taking the road to the right. And they set off again.

------------------------------------------------

They continued walking, at a faster pace than they had started with as it seemed that the road that Gandalf had picked was a major road back in the time that the Mines had been in use. It was in well-repair, and was wider and loftier the further up it wound.

They continued at that pace for as long as the hobbits could endure, and soon they were looking for a place to rest before the walls to both sides simply vanished from sight. The cold air from the room and the vast void of darkness before them had everyone crowding together, even the ANBU to a certain extent.

"Hinata…" Neji murmured, taking his cousin by the shoulder. She had bumped into him, but steadied as she interpreted the order given to her.

"On it…" and activated her Byakugan, and searched the area. As she shut it off she let out a low exclamation of wonder. Kiba, Naruto, and Neji glanced to her as she shook her head.

"_Amazing…"_ was all she could say on what she had seen. And then Gandalf lit the area up with his magic.

It was only for a few seconds, but what they saw was amazing.

A vast roof streached far above their heads, held there by many great pillars hewn of stone as large as the largest trees of Konoha, and on either side they could see the walls to the great hall, polished and smooth as black glass that glittered in the light.

"Let us rest…things have gone well, and the road is almost over, but we have a long way yet to the Gates." Gandalf said, and they set up camp for the night.

------------------------------------------------

The ANBU excused themselves from the rest of the group, and ignored the looks they got as they clustered off in one area, further away from the camp.

"_We need to write Tsunade-baa-chan soon…"_ Naruto commented, and Neji gave him a light whack on the top of his head, even as Hinata giggled, and Kiba shook his head.

"_It's 'Hokage-sama' remember? You have got to stop calling her that or she's going to break your neck one day…"_ Neji sighed, as Naruto grumbled.

"_Got it…but it still stands that we have got to write her or it's gonna look like we died or something."_ He replied, and Neji nodded. Hinata pulled out her scroll and looked to the rest of them. Kiba shrugged, Neji nodded and Naruto gave her a thumbs up.

"_O-okay then…I hope she's not as angry as last time…"_ she said, as she opened the scroll, brush and ink, and began writing.

--------------------------------------------------

In the other camp Legolas had been paying no mind to the stories of Gimli, but rather wondering what the ANBU had to wander off to do. Aragorn sat down next to him, giving him a light nudge to get him out of his thoughts.

"Eavesdropping on other parties is not a very good habit for a prince to pick up" he joked, even as the elven prince mock-scowled at him.

"I was doing no such thing. I was thinking, not eavesdropping." He replied in a regal manner, before cracking a smile, "But what keeps you? Everyone seems to have taken interest in the stories of the dwarf. And you have heard almost all of mine when you were younger." Legolas questioned, and Aragorn smiled, and shook his head.

"You sit off to yourself too often, and I wanted different company." He replied, and Legolas shook his head.

"Sleep. Your shift is after mine." Was how he responded, giving the Man a light shove in the direction of the group. Aragorn chuckled, but left all the same, even as the elf laid down for his own rest for the night.

(A/N: ah…crap. I need to start getting these things out in better time…)


	8. Fire and Flame

**Summary:** didn't change

**Disclaimer:** …do I _look_ like I own either one?!

**A/N:** Whee….I did it! Another chapter!

Liliesshadow – Here's the up-date

Kelly Of The Evenstar – sorry it took so long

rose-of-alabaster – I think I'm combining both…most likely combining both. And he gets worse in this one! xD

JuMiKu – Hmn…well they need to see further ahead, and while hers is more narrow it has a longer range.

Katestar98 – Heee…thanks and I try but I have a lot of things to work on. Thanks for understanding.

"_Elven/Shinobi"_

"Common"

'_Thoughts'_

'**Kyuubi' **

Chapter Eight: Fire and Flame

The Fellowship and ANBU woke to the sun peeping through cracks in the walls that had been made as windows. Gandalf looked pleased as he said that he had chosen the right path, and they had set about preparing breakfast, for they were going to be making the long trek to the Gates that day, and hoped to make it out of the Mines before another day passed, even Boromir expressed his desire to get out of the Mines as fast as possible.

'**Wimp…I say we scare him before we get out.' **Kyuubi commented, and Naruto sighed. It was only just morning and the thing was already cackling and throwing out ideas.

'_You do know more than half of those would not only get us into trouble with the Fellowship, but with our own squad, right?!_ _And the other half are potentially lethal for a citizen…' _Naruto grumbled, and was mildly disturbed when all the Kyuubi did was chuckle darkly.

That was never a good sign.

'_You're unusually psychotic today…'_ Naruto commented, as he settled down with his share of food.

'**This mission is lasting too long…' **the Kyuubi whined, and Naruto twitched, and Neji looked at him odd, but shrugged it off as he remembered the Fox.

'_Oh dear…you said the same thing the last time Neji was gone for a few months…'_ Naruto sighed, and the Kyuubi laughed a bit before replying.

'**Oh! So you do remember! You could say that it's withdrawal or something like that…' **it said, before beginning its laughter again.

'…_withdrawal? From wha-GAH! _PERVERTED_ FOX!!!!'_ Naruto screeched at the laughing fox. Which, in turn, only made it laugh _harder_.

'…_I hate you.'_ He grumbled, and shoveled the rest of his food down as they had begun to pack up and move off.

------------------------------------------

They were walking along the path, that now had real light guiding them, until they saw it came from a room on their right. The light came in through a shaft in a wall, and to their eyes even the weak light was dazzlingly bright. And that was when the ANBU knew they had been in the dark for far too long. As soon as they recovered from being in the dark so long they took a look around the room, and found a slab of white stone. Frodo wandered over to the stone and stared at it, even as Gandalf came to look over his shoulder.

"It's a tomb…written here is 'Balin Son Of Fundin Lord Of Moria.'" Gandalf said, reading the inscriptions aloud.

Then there was a period of silence in respect of the memory of the Dwarven Lord.

But soon they stirred again, and began looking over the room they were in. They noted bones, chests, and scattered weapons along the ground. Finally Gandalf found a book, old and stained with age and a dark substance that looked like blood.

As he began reading from it the shinobi began to get restless, and began looking around. Something was off, some instinct was telling them that it was not a very good idea to be staying in that particular room for much longer. They ignored the wizard in favor for trying to pinpoint the source of their unease.

"Come, let us go! The morning is passing." He finally said, and the shinobi were all too glad to comply, "Come now! Back to the hall!" and they were about to comply but…

No sooner had he finished speaking then a resounding rolling _Boom_ echoed up from the depths of the Mines. Soon more followed, as if someone had taken the Mines, and turned them into a drum, shaking the very stone underneath the Company. And then a horn was sounded, followed by more, and the noise of many feet could be heard.

This threw them into disarray for a few moments.

"They are coming!" Legolas cried out.

"We cannot get out!" Gimli exclaimed almost at the same moment.

"Trapped! Just like the warriors before us!" Kiba grumbled, as Hinata wrung her hands in worry.

"I should not have delayed…" Gandalf sighed, shaking his head as he though over what he _should_ have done.

"Slam the doors and wedge them! Keep your pack, we may have a chance to cut our way out yet!" Aragorn shouted above the others, but someone else was louder.

"Wait! Keep one door open, we are not going to repeat the same mistakes!" Naruto yelled over them all, even as they began to calm down. But as the shrill horn calls rang out again the Company as a whole drew their weapons. Or summoned them in the ANBU's case, as they began pulling out scrolls and summoning their preferred weapon – katana. Boromir set his broad shoulder against the western door, and was about to push it close when Gandalf called for him to wait, and approached the door.

"Who comes hither to disturb the rest of Balin Lord of Moria?" he demanded in a loud voice. Hoarse laughter was his only response…and a volley of arrows as he lit the halls outside the door up. He sprang backwards and shook his head.

"There are a great number of orcs outside the doors…a troll or two, and some monsters from Mordor itself…there is no escape that way." He said, as Boromir heaved the doors shut, and the rest of the Company wedged anything they could get their hands on into the doors to keep them from opening again.

"And no hope if they come through the other doors…" Boromir muttered.

"Let them come. I haven't had a good fight in a long time." Naruto scoffed, and was elbowed sharply by his boyfriend again. He rubbed his side and huffed. Neji was the more polite of the two, and was forever reminding Naruto to hold his tongue more often….mainly because Naruto never really wanted to.

"I hear nothing outside of here." Aragorn broke in, before anyone could comment on Naruto's brash statement. Neji, of course, signaled for Hinata to join Aragorn by the door, and check. She complied, and focused her Byukugan in the direction of the stairs, and shook her head. Aragorn was correct; nothing was coming from that door.

But as they were going to comment, and Neji was going to check himself just to be doubly sure, the door was suddenly shaken by a hard blow, rattling it in its frame. And then whatever had hit it, began pushing, forcing the door open, heedless of the wedges.

A huge arm and shoulder of a greenish color came through the gap, followed by a flat, and toeless, foot. Boromir charged forwards, and swung his blade at it, but the hide of the creature was tough enough that his sword was no use, and fell ringing and notched from his numbed hand. Then Frodo, the little Halfling, charged it, stabbing at its foot, even as Neji lunged forwards to try his luck at taking the thing's arm off. Both strikes hit, drawing blood. Neji cursed, as his katana was almost wrenched from his grip, and grabbed Frodo before he could be dragged out of the room by the creature he had stabbed, as it jerked backwards in pain.

"Not good! Boromir! Close the doors again!" Neji barked, and Boromir was too shocked to argue, and simply heaved the doors shut again.

"We need to get out…Wood can only hold for so long…" Naruto muttered, as they all heard the crashing and banging at the other side of the doors as hammers and rams were taken to the old wood.

He had no sooner finished talking then the doors were forced open, as it cracked under the onslaught. Neji cursed along with the others, as he tossed Frodo to Naruto, and shoved Boromir backwards, giving himself room for his 'Kaiten' to block the arrows that came flying through the open doorway. He jumped back to the group, just in time for the onrush of orcs to flood in.

And that's when the ANBU leapt into action.

They moved all at once, in one motion, surging towards the mass of orcs that had threatened their guides, their mission, their _companions_!!

There would be no mercy from the masked death-dealers here.

The Fellowship hung back, even Legolas was not sure enough of his aim to fire into the fray with how fast their traveling companions were moving. It seemed that in the time it took to blink they had already moved to a different target, leaving the other to fall to the floor, dead. Their blades did not flash or glint in the light as some would like to say, their blades were made of dulled metal, but the speed at which they were wielded gave the impression of light…or was that something that was radiating from them? The wounds that they inflicted upon the enemy were always cauterized, and never bled…

"Still doubt Gandalf's choice now?" Gimli asked, looking up at Boromir. The Man shook his head slowly.

"No…no those doubts have long been silenced." He replied slowly, as he watched the rest of the orcs run away as fast as they could, occasionally tripping over each other or their own feet in their haste to escape.

"GO! Run! _Hurry!!_" one of them shouted, but before they could move another great beast that barely fit through the doorway came through the doors, knocking the ANBU back in their surprise. The thing hefted its spear that was as long as the tallest member of the Fellowship, and just as thick, and threw it at Frodo.

Thankfully it didn't hit the poor hobbit.

Instead it was caught in the clawed gloves of Kiba, but even he looked like he had narrowly missed being impaled. He grunted, and hefted the spear himself, something crackling along the length of both his arms, and hurled it back at the beast, even as it charged. The momentum from the spear-toss and the beast's own charge ripped the head clean off the thing's shoulders, and impaled it to the wall behind it. The rest of the invaders fled as soon as they saw the body hit the floor – headless.

"Let's go!" one barked, and they fled down the stairs while they had the chance.

They bolted down the stairs as fast as possible, until one of the shinobi jumped to the first person – Aragorn – and grabbed him by the collar before he ran off the edge. The stairs had come to a _very_ sharp turn. Aragorn was thankful…though he coughed a few times and rubbed his throat.

"Sorry…but I did not have time to mention that they came to turns like this…" Hinata murmured. But as they paused to turn Gandalf turned back the way they had come.

"_Hey, old man! What are you staring that way for? We need to get moving, 'cuz staying in one place isn't safe."_ Naruto said, moving closer to the elder wizard. But he stopped half-way when Kyuubi growled.

'_Haven't heard you do that in a lo-'_ Naruto went to comment, but the fox cut him off.

'**Kit. Run. Now. Grab your mate and run.' **It growled, startling Naruto into silence.

For about two seconds.

"Uh…N-Neji…do you, er…mind checking on what is coming after us?" he asked, quite timidly. This made everyone who knew anything about him stop and stare. Neji simply nodded, and turned back in the direction of the doors, unaware of the fact that Kyuubi was yelling for Naruto to run for it. Regardless of that, he soon found reason to join the fox in the desire to get away from that area as soon as possible.

Whatever was coming towards them was old….and powerful. More so than many of the creatures, shinobi, and demons he had seen or heard of.

"I-I-I…dear Kami I don't like the look of that thing!" he stammered, as he backed into Naruto. Now was the time for them to worry. A Hyuuga…_Neji_ was _afraid_ of whatever was coming after them.

" Well…we have officially overstayed our welcome in the Mines of Moria…Let's go!" Kiba barked, and as they turned to listen they noticed Gandalf was not moving. Hinata turned from the rest of the group being herded off by her comrades and stared at him.

"Sir? We are leaving…you need to follow, you cannot hold that force by yourself" she said, as the aura of darkness that the thing gave off was already felt by the shinobi. And she could tell now why even her strong-willed cousin had opted to flee. But this wizard was going to try and face it? Was he insane?

"Leave…I can delay it at the most. Get out of here." He replied firmly, but kindly to the female. Hinata bit her lip, and shook her head.

But did as he said.

She came to a stop at the turn of the stairs, as the group seemed to have only moved off to wait for the Grey Wizard to re-join them. She glanced back to see the wizard fighting with something…some other magic, as the glow from his staff flashed. But after that flash the drum beats became wilder, as a dull rumble and heavy thud. And no sooner had all this registered than did Gandalf himself com flying down the stairs – on his own two feet thankfully – but he collapsed as soon as he was sure he was in the midst of allies. Naruto, being closer, helped the elder up to his feet with more care than he normally showed to anyone. Gandalf nodded his thanks, and brushed himself off as soon as he was steady.

"Well…that was interesting, but all is done…we cannot stay here, keep moving everyone!" he barked, but the tone lacked the force. They glanced between each other as they wondered what had happened to the wizard, even as they began moving down the stairs again.

As they say the end to the stairs things began to go wrong. First was they had failed to notice the archers along the other side of the stairs…until they began firing at the Company. Then, as they ran down the steps in effort to keep out of the hail of arrows the ceiling began to rumble and crack, as did the pillars nearby. They dropped chunks of stone, almost hitting a few of the Company at the tail end as they ran past. And then one crashed _through_ the staircase ahead of them. They came to a skidding stop, before they fell, though Aragorn needed to be saved again – by Legolas this time.

"And that is what you get for rushing ahead." The Elf admonished quietly, as the rest of the group came to a stop. They came to the quick decision to first get someone onto the other side of the gap, being Aragorn and Naruto, and toss the Halflings over first. Akamaru would have run the chance of landing awkwardly and falling if he tried. The hobbits got off the large dog, as Aragorn and Naruto jumped to the other side of the gap. The first tossed was Merry, then Pippen, and then Sam. It took both people on the other end to catch them, as the stairs were not exactly designed for great footing. After those three had been tossed across the others – meaning Boromir, Legolas, Neji, Hinata, Kiba, and Akamaru – jumped across. Then Gimli followed, but was saved from falling by Kiba grabbing his beard and pulling him up. Needless to say the Dwarf was not happy, and was muttering in Dwarvish under his breath. This was the other part of the plan – they had to be on this side just in case something was waiting at the bottom of the stairs and needed to be defended against.

As Gandalf and Frodo went to jump over the gap another stone fell, crashing through the staircase behind them. The part of the staircase they stood on began to tilt to the side, frightening the hobbit, and most of the Company.

"Lean forwards!" the old wizard commanded, even as he did so himself. Frodo soon copied and soon the staircase crashed into the piece the rest of the Company was standing on. They both hopped off of the chunk before it fell, and began running down the stairs as soon as everyone was sure they were okay.

----------------------------------------------------------------

They were running, running flat out now, as they had come to a hall, and there were more archers, and not enough time to deal with them. They had spent too much already by the stairs, and if they hoped to stay ahead of the thing following them it was going to be a race for the stairs leading to the Gates. The ANBU could have easily left them in the dust, but after being beside them so long they felt it was better not to.

And they would be lost without them…quite literally. That and Akamaru once again had the Halflings using him as a pony.

Finally they ran into a room a large one as the walls on either side disappeared into the gloom from all but the keenest eyes. But they did not slow, as they saw before them a long, narrow bridge, the only thing spanning the great chasm before them. And all around was fire, fire that would have trapped them had they chosen the wrong way, fire that was now the only thing between them and the dark creatures.

The Company came to a halt at the edge of the chasm, as Gandalf began telling them that they had to cross in single file. All the while the orcs fired arrows at them, and swung their weapons overhead, furious that their plan to trap the Company had not worked the way they had wanted. Legolas, Naruto, and Neji turned to the orcs, finally growing annoyed with the hail of arrows, and drew their ranged weapons to deal with the archers.

But what they saw when they turned around was the last thing they expected.

Legolas gave a cry of terror and dismay, as his hand fell from his bow, the arrow clattering onto the stone along with two kunai dropped from the numbed hands of the two ANBU.

The ranks of the orcs has split in two, moving out of the way of what was coming up from behind, almost as if they were afraid. The form of what the thing was could not be seen, it was like a great shadow, and in the middle was a darker form shaped like a man but larger. The feeling of power and terror it radiated proceeded it, making even the ANBU shake in fear. By now the rest of the Company had turned and seen the shrouded form, as it walked forwards to the bridge, burst into flames as it cleared the fissure separating the two groups. The Company and ANBU stood, frozen with fear at the sight of an evil being who was far older than Sauron himself.

'**This is not good' **the Kyuubi commented, and all Naruto could do was agree.

(A/N: Okay…Kyuubi was supposed to make an appearance here…but it got pushed back as I thought this was a good point to cut it off…sorry)


	9. Red Blood and White Light

**Summary:** First chapter still covers it.

**Disclaimer:** Uh-huh…riiiight, like I own either story or manga/anime…people I'm in college. I own shit. And even that I'm not so sure about.

**A/N:** Do not kill me please…but it took forever due to a few issues.

Trinity Fenton-Phantom – Thanks! I will, but I'm a Junior in college. So….yeah college kills free time. But here it is!

Not Yet Knowing – Hehehe…he does. ^ ^ And I will.

dragons chaotica – ^ ^; I think it may turn out that way…can you believe that I didn't plan that? And thanks for recommending my story! ^ ^

Escalus – Why thank you!

evil-step-sister – sorry about the wait…and I hope this doesn't count as a cliffhanger…

bookworm51485 – Sorry about the wait on this…and yes, a new twist. And I noticed that too…that's why I'm writing this piece of fan-fiction. And questions? Oh yes, lots of them, and they come in on the chapter after this one.

JuMiKu – I have no idea. And, I'm thinking that he would be at least a bit sensible to know that taking on something like that with only a human body would be…interesting. But I hope this chapter clears up a few things. Like I said, 'I hope' so tell me if it doesn't.

Flightless Bird – you mean the one where Naruto goes Kyuubi on the Balrog, right? And thank you!

Liliesshadow – Yes. Yes I do mean that. And gotta love the demon for that number.

"_Elven/Shinobi"_

"Common"

'_Thoughts'_

'**Kyuubi'**

Chapter Nine: Red Blood and White Light

'**And this is why I told you to run.'** The Kyuubi groaned. Naruto got the feeling the fox had its head in its paws, and the dark muttering in the back of his mind did not help dissuade that belief. At first he had thought it was because of fear the Kyuubi wanted him to run. He was partially correct…the Kyuubi was afraid, but not for himself for once. He – through being exposed to Naruto – had grown fond of his kit's friends and mate. He wanted them seen to safety before he…no. Before he and _Naruto_ took on the monstrosity in front of them. Now the exit was in sight…his dark muttering turned to laughter. He hadn't had a good fight in so long…

'_We taking that thing on?'_ Naruto asked, a shadow of a smirk on his face.

'**Would you rather let someone else take it on?'** the Kyuubi challenged, and the shadow of a smirk turned into a feral grin.

'_I'll take that as a rhetorical question. Let's GO!!'_ he roared, as the Kyuubi 'loaned' him vast amounts of demonic chakra, soon manifesting into tails. Tails, as in more than one and steadily increasing in number.

"Naruto! What do you think you are doing!?" Neji demanded, as he noticed the red chakra forming a solid – and highly visible – cloak around his lover. Granted he had seen Naruto do this before…but that time had scared him half to death. And it looked like Kyuubi want to take on the flaming monstrosity in front of them. And if he managed to beat it out with a stronger evil aura then he knew for a fact that the Fellowship would _not_ look favorably on them.

The only problem was that Neji was equally sure of the fact that Naruto was not thinking of this…quite possibly not thinking at all.

Upon hearing a muffled cough he turned back to the elf beside him and raised an eyebrow. Legolas had his mouth covered, and was backing away from Naruto. Obviously the chakra Naruto was releasing was fast becoming oppressive…it was even beginning to weigh on the ANBU, and that was saying something.

"Kiba! Lady Hinata! Get them to back away…this is not going to be a safe zone in a few moments." Neji called to the others, who nodded and began trying to lead the Fellowship further away from the bridge.

The two Men and the Dwarf were having none of that though.

"What are you trying to do?! Gandalf needs help! So does your companion! Are you to have us abandon them?" Aragorn demanded hotly as Kiba tried to get him to move.

"No, you idiot! Sure they may need help but we – meaning all of us besides those two – are a hindrance! Now you need to get out of here, we'll be close behind you." Kiba snapped back.

"Kiba is right. We cannot help them…not against that. We would only distract them." Hinata added, as she tried to help Kiba with the reluctant members of the Fellowship.

"I am no coward or hindrance! Let me through!" it was Gimli this time trying to shove past the two remaining ANBU members.

"N-no! That's not it! And I can't do that…" Hinata stammered, as the Dwarf glowered up at her. Another cough from Legolas, though, brought everyone's attention to the heavy atmosphere.

"I apologize…but I doubt I am of any use…the air here has become too oppressive." The elven prince apologized, covering his mouth again. Aragorn patted his back as he finally noticed how badly off the elf was.

"The Elf is right. I am no coward but in a battle between monsters there is only so much we can do. And even fewer options end with us living." Boromir commented. Aragorn ground his teeth, but upon noticing that the coughs were becoming closer together, and the fact that he himself was becoming a bit nauseated, decided that it was better to listen to the masked members of the Fellowship.

* * *

And while they had been talking and moving off the Balrog (A/N: Hah! Found the correct spelling!) had struck at the Grey Wizard and the Fox Demon. The flames of its sword was meet with a flash of white light from Glamdring and a blast of red chakra from the kitsune. As the Balrog stumbled Kyuubi/Naruto turned to the wizard.

"Wizard…leave this thing to me." The Kyuubi/Naruto thing growled, shoving its way in front of the Grey Wizard. Gandalf, for his part did not argue…much.

"What are you doing?" he asked, even as he fell back a few paces to let the Kyuubi face the Balrog. He didn't know if doing such a thing was the correct move, but he knew better than to argue with whatever demon had taken control over Naruto's body.

Mainly because the Balrog was giving the thing its undivided attention.

"Me? I'm going to show this flaming tar ball exactly what happens when you cross a kitsune of my age." Kyuubi growled. Neji had been right…the Kyuubi was going to take the Balrog on head-first.

This was not going to be pretty.

"Brother Neji! What are you still doing there?" Hinata called, making Gandalf turn to see that Neji was still indeed nearby. Nearby meaning 'not with the rest of the group' that was standing near the base of the stairs that lead up to the surface.

Neji did not respond, and only waved the two on, just as the Balrog and Kyuubi attacked each other. Gandalf ducked out of reflex, and scrambled from the bridge as fire met fire in a flash of sparks. A roar was heard, and the Kyuubi landed hard enough to crack the ground underneath it, before getting back to its feet and charging in once again. The Balrog stumbled back a few paces as the kitsune struck it hard with its claws.

"Neji…please…explain what is going on…" Gandalf said, as he fell back to Neji's position. His masked companion did not even turn his head to acknowledge him, as he replied.

"That would be the 'Kyuubi Cloak' and the red color is his blood. Do not worry…we have a skilled Medic with us so he will be fine. He can explain the rest to the Fellowship once this is over." He replied, as he watched Kyuubi break the Balrog's sword with a well-placed blast of chakra, even as the winds created from such a blast threatened to tear him off his feet.

Chakra suction was a blessing in these types of instances.

"Neji! What are you doing?! Get away from there!" Boromir called, as the fight between the two ancient demons continued, bringing them close to the side that the Fellowship was on. In fact the fight had brought the combatants close enough that the two closest could feel the heat from the Balrog's flames, and smell the iron from the blood in the Kyuubi Cloak.

"Gandalf. If things continue like this you may need to provide back up for Kyuubi." But no sooner did he finish that statement than did Kyuubi slam its might against the larger creature of flames, sending it crashing onto the bridge, creating fissures along the length of the stone, and almost breaking it.

"Or not. I suggest backing away now." Neji continued, taking a few hurried steps backwards, as the cracks continued from the bridge towards the two, as Kyuubi continued to pound at the Balrog while it was down. Kitsune like him did not play fair. Ever.

"Wh-what is going on?!" Gandalf demanded as he fell back with the ANBU. Neji never had a chance to answer the wizard, because that was when the Balrog gathered enough of its scrambled wits to toss the kitsune off, and Kyuubi flew, nearly colliding with the two closer spectators. It lurched up to its feet with a roar. The Balrog was heavily injured, but only that. Injured, and now it was far past angry. And Kyuubi was shaking his head, as it regained its feet.

Then Gandalf did something that Neji did not know how to deal with.

The old wizard placed himself between the angry Balrog and the rest of the group, raising both staff and sword high.

"You shall not pass!" the wizard roared back, swinging both weapons downwards.

And only then did the rest of the group catch on to what Gandalf was going to do.

"Gandalf! NO!" the cry from the Fellowship echoed around the hall as they shoved their way past the ANBU, who were too surprised to act properly. Even Neji was rooted to the spot as the already weakened bridged crumbled under the force of the blow.

Crumbled right under both the Grey Wizard and the Balrog.

"TURN BACK! The stairs! Up the stairs!" Neji whirled on the group, glad that his mask covered his colorless face. He did not need for them to see how badly shaken he was from seeing Gandalf plummet to his death. He only stopped long enough to gather Naruto into his arms and ran with him. His injuries were horrendous, but they did not have time to heal him just yet. All he could do was hope that moving was not going to worsen the injuries. For now they had to concentrate on getting out of the Mines of Moria, and to somewhere they could rest and recover – and hopefully plan their next course of action now that the Grey Wizard was gone.

* * *

'_What do we do now? He fell…he…'_ Aragorn thought, as he and the others slowed from a dead run to a slow walk. His thoughts flew in different directions, and he only managed to piece together a few thoughts, mostly incoherent.

"Aragorn…" a soft voice by his side spoke, but he paid it no heed, too lost in his thoughts to hear.

'_We did nothing to help him…we could do nothing to help him.'_ What little coherent thought he had was of despair, and failure.

"Aragorn." The voice was louder this time, the owner was becoming irritated.

'_How could this happen…he was not supposed to…he was our leader….I cannot lead…'_ once again Aragorn ignore the voice, as he inclined his head up to the sky, as if it held answers to unasked questions.

"Idiot Man, open your ears!" the voice snapped angrily, startling said Man into whipping around to face the one who had used such a tone on him. He came face to face with an irritate elven prince.

"Huh?" and of all the things he could have said his train of thought had stopped on the one that made him look like an idiot. Legolas let out a breath that sounded very much like a sigh.

"Finally…we cannot stay here. When the sun sets orcs will come swarming out of the Mines, you do know that do you not?" Legolas asked, waving his hand in the vague direction of the entrance to the Mines. Aragorn nodded once.

"Ah…I do now. Come…help me get them up." He replied, before moving off, keeping his back to the elf as he went about trying to convince the others to get back to their feet.

"As you wish…" the elf murmured, as he saw that the Grey Wizard's death and the sudden weight of responsibility thrust upon the Man weighed on him. It was a heavy load that made the elf wonder how long his friend could hold out under such pressure.

"Everyone! We cannot stay, we need to move!" Aragorn's voice carried clearly, too clearly. It almost made _him _wince. He knew what he was ordering was heartless…

"Have you no heart? Let them grieve for a lost friend!" but he did not need to say it, as Boromir was obviously not one afraid to voice his opinion on the order. For an order it was, and as the new leader he expected them to obey.

"…we can do that later. If we do not leave now, none of us will be left to grieve for our fallen friend." Aragorn replied, brushing Boromir's anger off as one of grief. Who knew that the other Man was so attached to the wizard?

"…" Boromir made a soft noise in the back of his throat, but did not otherwise disagree. It was hard for him to do so, but he knew that what Aragorn said was true, and there was no use in arguing. Not now, not when grief was clouding his thoughts.

"Let us go."

* * *

At the same time, off to the side the ANBU sat, laid, or knelt as they waited for the Fellowship to get moving. Not that they were rushing anything as Hinata had to have time to fix Naruto up.

"Neji…are you okay?" Kiba asked, sitting down near the Hyuuga. Neji only glanced over to him and then went back to watching his cousin heal his lover.

"Kiba, why are you asking me that?" he returned a question with a question, making Kiba grumble.

"Don't play stupid. You and Naruto were close to that old man when he fell. And Naruto has the buffer of the Kyuubi. You don't. Now answer me. Answer honestly. Are you okay?" Kiba growled, and Neji leaned back onto his hands, watching a cloud pass by, trying to think of an answer.

"…I will be once the shock wears off." He finally responded, and it was true. All shinobi had to deal with death, ANBU most of all. The shock was still there, but it would be gone sooner or later. Most likely sooner rather than later.

"…yeah. I hope so. Don't go doing something stupid in the meantime." Kiba grumbled again, and Neji gave him an odd look.

"I think that would be my line." He commented, making Kiba stiffen, and turned back to Naruto as the young man groaned, "Anyway…Naruto, glad you decided to join us in the realm of the living again." He finished off, and Kiba sat down next to Hinata in a huff. She only responded by curling closer to him, and he wrapped an arm around her automatically. It was just a small comfort for the both of them while they were assigned missions together.

"Shut up you." Naruto growled at Neji, as he sat up rubbing his head. Neji only chuckled.

"Is something the matter?" he asked sweetly, making Naruto cringe.

"Aside from a splitting headache, nothing is wrong at all." He responded, and Neji shook his head, already knowing what his previous tone must have done to the blond's headache.

"You still have your wit. You're fine." Neji said with a shrug, but used a softer tone for Naruto's sake. But it was then that Naruto remembered what had happened.

"I didn't attack you this time did I?" he asked, and then winced as Neji stopped moving.

"…" it wasn't a pleasant memory, but he remembered the first time he saw the Kyuubi cloak…and at that time it had been directed at other foes, but as soon as Neji had gone to calm Naruto down he had been struck down.

Hard.

The arm he had raised to protect himself had been shattered, and rendered useless for a week or more, he couldn't quite remember how long. The only good thing was Naruto snapped out of it as soon as he had seen Neji's body fly across the clearing. Later he had said something about the Kyuubi cursing up a storm about attacking the wrong person, and not wanting to injure a strong mate.

"Neji?" Naruto asked, shaking his lover slightly. He knew that memory was not one he liked to relive, nor was it one that he liked to think about. But the question had just slipped.

Neji, upon having his shoulder shaken, snapped out of his thoughts and shook his head.

"Ah. No, you only attacked that thing. You collapsed as soon as it fell." Much abbreviated, yes. But he did not have time to go into detail as Aragorn called for everyone to get moving. The ANBU were on their feet within the second, and ready to move.

At Aragorn's command the rest of the Fellowship rose, and began their trek towards Lothlórien. But the Fellowship had one thing on their minds, the part not mourning Gandalf of course, and that was – What type of people did they have following them?

(A/N: WHHHHYY?!?!?!?!? Why did they not want to cooperate with me!? Took for-freaking-ever to get it the way I wanted it and even now I want to change it! Seriously. I tore down that battle scene so many times if it were on paper I would have erased a hole through the page and the three after it…)


	10. To Lothlórien

**Summary:** First chapter still covers it.

**Disclaimer:** …what the freak makes you think I own any of this? I have an original story in the works….but this ain't it.

**A/N:** Gah…no excuses…just please don't kill me…+stares at schedule+ On second thought, fire away.

Kari Suttle - ^ ^ thanks! And check out OverlyInspired…I think I spelled that right.

JuMiKu – 'cuz he needed to die, and I still hate how that part came out. And Boromir is going to develop more, don't worry. And thanks.

Ice Vixen X – don't worry about that. In the next few battles the shinobi are gonna have fun. Can't say the same for the enemies.

koryssa-kory – Heh. Thanks. I will! This thing is gonna be finished, if it is the last thing I do!...hopefully it isn't though…o o

Escalus – Yeah…could have been better…but it is out, and I give up on that chapter.

Trinity Fenton-Phantom – Thanks! I will! ^ ^

rose-of-alabaster – so sorry! NOOO! Don't die! I'll try to make them longer I promise!

Flightless Bird – That's nice to see…makes me feel that all the editing to those evil little areas was not all in vain.

Katestar98 – so sorry for the wait. And I had to, but don't worry, when he pops back in it's gonna be hilarious. And thanks!

Not Yet Knowing – I was trying to even out the power and keep to the book…but I kinda regret that now…

Liliesshadow – Thanks. The ending was the easier part to write funnily enough. And Kyuubi is funny when he makes himself known. Wise-ass demon hair ball…

"_Elven/Shinobi"_

"Common"

'_Thoughts'_

'**Kyuubi'**

Chapter Ten: To Lothlórien

"_Well this sucks…"_ Kiba grumbled, as they followed behind the Company, moving at a far slower pace than normal. They would have used soldier pills to give them a boost to keep up, but there was a small snag with that; the effects only lasted so long, and it looked like they were in for another long trek. Not to mention they only had so many, and this mission looked like it was going to last far longer than they had packed for.

"_Be quiet…my head still hurts."_ Naruto grumbled, placing a hand to his temples and rubbing them. He was seeing spots, and things were wavering, but he was in one piece. Being in one whole piece was good…unless he was captured an then he was going to make sure he was in a couple dozen or so pieces – but that was a different story.

"_I'm sorry…"_ the soft voice of Hinata came from behind him, and he glanced over his shoulder. Even with her mask on she somehow managed to look depressed…

"_Not your fault Hinata."_ Naruto reassured her, even though he had been hoping that she could have gotten rid of the spots. Not that he was going to say that aloud.

"_But…"_ she tried to protest, but Naruto shook his head.

"_No 'but's' you fixed me up after that, so a little headache is fine_." He replied easily, though she was still un-convinced.

"…_you sure?"_ she asked, again doubting her abilities. She had improved, but sometimes her old habits kicked up. Though before Naruto could say anything else Kiba decided to pipe up.

"_Oi, leave the fussing to his girlfriend."_ He commented, earning himself a low growl from said _boy_friend.

"_Inuzuka…"_ there was the deadly growl, and the foreboding aura to match coming from the smaller male. If looks could have killed then Kiba would have been dead several times over in increasingly bloodier displays of violence.

"_Whoops…"_ was all the dog-nin managed before hiding behind Hinata. She was safe, that much he knew. He wouldn't kill his cousin now, not when they had become more like family…right?

"_B-brother Neji, p-please don't hurt Kiba_." Turns out Hinata wasn't so sure about that…then again Neji was furious. He did not appreciate jabs at his looks, and had Naruto not been using him for support he would have lunged at the Inuzuka. Oh, right there was one other thing that kept him from attacking…he was also hiding behind his cousin. That helped.

"_Only for you."_ Neji bit out, not sounding like he was willing to forgive Kiba so easily, but he wasn't going to hurt him…while Hinata was around. Now if she would only leave him alone for a moment…

"_Th-thank you. Kiba it's safe now…"_ she trailed off, as her boyfriend poked his head around her to see that Neji was indeed not ready to rip him to pieces. His aura was still full of anger, but at least he was not going to do him bodily harm.

"…_why am I always the target of his anger?"_ Kiba grumbled, as he straightened up.

"_Maybe because you are worse than me?"_ Naruto chuckled, finally getting enough of his wits to comment.

"…" Kiba made an odd noise that sounded like a strangled choke of some sort, even as Hinata giggled, and Neji's shoulders shook with silent laughter.

"_And this is coming from Naruto."_ The brunet managed to force out before going back to trying to stifle his laughter. Naruto only huffed at that comment.

"…_I'll take that as a compliment."_ He grumbled, wincing a bit as Neji shifted his grip to get a better hold of him.

"_Take it how you want."_ Was how his boyfriend replied, shifting his grip again.

"_You four do know that you are irritating the others who cannot understand you, correct?"_ the elven prince had dropped back to talk to them, and he was wearing a small smirk, having overheard almost all of the conversation.

"_Yes, but this is more comfortable_." Neji replied, and Legolas chuckled.

"_Thought so. But come, you are not ones that normally stay in the back at such a pace."_ Legolas pointed out, as he fell into step with the shinobi. It was true, they normally did not follow this far behind, but Hinata and Naruto were exhausted.

"_Our apologies for worrying you. Some of us need more time to recover from the trek through the Mines."_ Neji was once again the spokesperson, as he replied for his group.

"_Well then, hurry up. We are closing in on a place to rest. It is much safer than resting out here."_ Legolas said, with a wave to the surrounding open area. Not an ideal place to rest when orcs could be coming from the Mines.

"_Good. We will try."_ Was all Neji said, as he and the other three picked up their pace, and closed some of the distance between the Fellowship and themselves.

"Excuse me…Kiba? We really could walk…" a Halfling had slipped from Akamaru's back, and was trotting alongside the ANBU with a worried look on his face, "Really…two of you look exhausted, and it wouldn't be that bad, we hobbits are not all fluff!"

"Sam was it?" Kiba asked, as he tried to remember which name went with which Halfling.

"Yessir. Samewise Gamgee." Sam said proudly, as he re-introduced himself.

"Well…you hobbits sure you can keep up with the Company on foot?" Kiba asked, sounding a bit doubtful. After all the Halflings did not look like they could keep up with a Citizen's child, let alone a full grown man, or an Elf.

"Yessir! Perfectly sure!" but the hobbit had other ideas, as he proclaimed that they could keep up just fine, and the other three voiced their agreement from the back of Akamaru.

"Okay then…" Kiba gave in, and the hobbits scrambled off of the dog, and fell into line alongside the rest of the Fellowship. Then he helped Hinata onto Akamaru, as Neji did the same for Naruto. As soon as they were settled they picked up their pace.

But it obviously wasn't fast enough for a certain shinobi.

"…are we there yet?" the injured blond asked, making Neji, and Kiba, twitch. Naruto was not going to start that…check that Naruto was going to start that, and annoy everyone within the vicinity.

"I'm warning you: do not start that." Neji growled, as he caught his boyfriend's intentions. Naruto's shoulders sagged once Neji growled at him like that.

"But-!" he whined, and Neji cut him off.

"No!" he snapped.

"…'kay." And with that the ANBU lapsed into silence, though the chatter from the hobbits was more than enough to make up for them. Then Legolas' clear voice called out, startling the group.

"There lie the woods of Lothlórien! Come we will be safe there." The elf pointed off into the distance, to what seemed to be a forest of gold trees. At the insistence that they would be safe there the Fellowship, shinobi included, picked up the pace. That was before Naruto looked around, and finally asked the question that had been bothering him.

"That's good to know…but…where are Sam and Frodo?" at his question the people in front turned around. It was Legolas who spotted the Halflings.

"…They fell behind. Aragorn! You set too hard a pace for the wounded!" the elf called, and shook his head when he saw the Man wince. What else was said was lost on Kiba as he stormed back to the two hobbits, followed by a much calmer Neji, and lifted one over his shoulder. Neji was a little more delicate in handling Frodo, carrying him on his back.

"'_Fine' my ass…you two are idiots! We could keep a better pace, you are wounded as well! Morons_!" Kiba's ranting could be heard clearly as he stomped back to the Fellowship. While the Halflings, Boromir and Gimli could not understand the words, the anger behind the words made it clear that their wolf-masked companion was not complimenting the hobbits.

"Sorry?" Sam offered, as he too picked up on the anger. Kiba either ignored him, or just didn't hear him in his anger.

"Hinata, Naruto, make room for the idiot hobbits." He grumbled, as he made to drop Sam onto Akamaru. They shifted a bit, and Frodo and Sam were back on the huge dog.

"By 'idiot hobbits' I guess you must be referring to Frodo and Sam, and not us." Pippen piped up, somewhere between Kiba telling Hinata and Naruto to move, and putting the injured hobbits on Akamaru.

"Pip, you don't need someone to recognize your stupidity." Merry commented, and Pippen whirled on him with an indignant "Hey!" before swinging at Merry as the other began laughing.

"Quit it, both of you…" Neji sighed, as he began to wonder how Iruka dealt with children for a profession.

"But he started it!" the Hyuuga only shook his head at this response, and turned the floor over to Kiba, and picked up his pace so he was closer to the ones in the lead. He dealt with children as well as Shikamaru dealt with hard labor.

"Boromir! Little help here?" Kiba, having spent most of his time dealing with dogs, had no idea what he was doing. And the hobbits had begun fighting again. It didn't help matters when Sam and Frodo began laughing.

"Why me?" the Man asked, turning his attention from the path to the shinobi in confusion.

"You're closer." Kiba replied. Boromir glared.

"…that is the only reason?" he asked, keeping his temper until he was sure he had a valid reason to become annoyed.

"Ye-no, wait, wait…ah screw it, yes it is." Kiba said, pausing for a moment as he acted as if he was truly thinking on the matter. Boromir was, to put it lightly, not amused.

"You are-!" he began hotly, ready to tell the shinobi off for such a remark, before Kiba decided he had better things to do – such as separate the hobbits before they actually managed to hurt each other.

"Quit! Oi! Hold him!" and with that Boromir had a flailing hobbit shoved into his arms, as Kiba grabbed the two to separate them.

"Ah! Hello Merry." The Man greeted, as he looked down to the scowling Halfling. Merry looked up, then back to the ground in a sulk.

"I don't think Kiba should be having children anytime soon." Merry grumbled. Boromir chuckled.

"I agree." Was the Man's only response.

"Watch it!" Kiba snapped, having overheard the both of them.

They didn't hear the group ahead begin laughing at them.

After a brief walk they had to slow down to treat the wounds. Especially the wounds that were still on Naruto and the two hobbits.

"Here, we need to attend to those wounds now. Sam, Frodo, Naruto, come here." Aragorn said, after calling a halt to the march. It was welcomed by the two hobbits that were still walking, and they almost immediately dropped to the ground in a heap. The ones on Akamaru slid off the large dog's back as he went to lay beside his partner. Soon Aragorn was patching up the injuries of the two hobbits and the lone ANBU. Naruto was not too pleased with the development, but Hinata was exhausted.

"Okay…That should do it for now…" Aragorn commented, as soon as he was finished, but before Naruto could get up the Ranger held up a hand.

"A moment please…" he asked, and Naruto shot a look to Neji, who gave a slight nod. The blond sat back down and Aragorn continued, "If you don't mind me asking…but what did you do back in the Mines? I have never seen or heard of anything like that." He asked, and noticed the entire group of ANBU stiffen in alarm.

"That…information is classified. I am not at liberty to tell you." Naruto replied, after a pause that seemed to stretch on for hours.

"Then how can we trust you?" Aragorn asked mildly, crossing his arms. The rest of the Fellowship was quiet, and he noticed some had let their hands stray to their weapons. He also saw the shinobi look between themselves, before Neji sighed.

"…Naruto, I think you should. We'll think of something to tell the Hokage." The small male said, his voice sounding tired.

'**Please. I'm 'classified information' now? That's a laugh. A few more to the already numerous persons who know will not be a problem.'** The Kyuubi snorted. Naruto growled.

'_Shut up you.'_ He grumbled, not noticing he was doing so aloud. The Kyuubi had that effect on him.

"Naruto?" Aragorn promted, and Naruto only sighed.

"Fine, fine…but this is very sensitive information, so it cannot be repeated. What I used was dubbed the 'Kyuubi Cloak' and it is a manifestation of the chakra from the demon fox sealed inside me." Dead silence, and hands tightened on the hilts of the close-ranged weapons.

"Oh come off it! He's harmless! Unless you piss him off…but really? Naruto has this under control." Kiba snapped, as he was sure Neji's scowl had warped into a silent growl under the mask. No, it was not _Naruto_ they had to look out for…

"Our apologies…but that information was startling. We know he means no harm." Aragorn said, re-crossing his arms, as they had fallen to his side in shock. He also glanced to each of his companions with a silent order to take their hands from their weapons. A few stiff nods told him they would comply, and they dropped their hands to their sides.

"So, are we going or not?" Naruto asked, and Aragorn nodded.

"Right, come, let us continue. The Golden Woods are not far…" and he did not voice the fact that if Naruto was indeed a danger the elves of Lothlórien would make short work of him.

They finally made it into the Woods without further issue, and the audible sigh of relief came from the least likely place.

One of the ANBU. Possibly Fox, but no one could tell when they had the masks on.

For reasons that even they did not know this place felt safer…they were not going to say anything to that just yet, as they traveled a bit further into the woods before stopping to rest. Another odd thing they were going to tell the Hokage about was the river they had just crossed, one that eased their weariness as well as any solider pill. Even Hinata and Naruto, whose feet only dragged through the water, felt a bit better.

They were settling down, after listening to Legolas recite part of a poem of sorts of the Elf that the river was named for, when the ANBU all stiffened. Before Legolas could jump into the tree he was going to sleep in, Kiba had tackled him to the ground, and Neji had leapt into the higher branches. He was followed by the other three, even Hinata and Naruto. Legolas scrambled back to his feet, as Aragorn and Boromir drew their swords. The Elf glanced to the trees, as he heard a curse. It wasn't his dialect, but he recognized it.

"_ANBU! Stop! They are only sentries!"_ he called in Elvish, not trusting that they would take the time to translate Common in this state. He was correct to use his native tongue, as the four ANBU dropped from the trees to land in front of him and the Fellowship. They were followed by a few injured and slightly harassed looking Elves, some glaring openly at the ANBU.

Who did not look like they were going to apologize for their actions.

Aragorn, in effort to preserve some type of peace between the two groups, took it upon himself to do so.

"_I apologize for their actions…they are warriors, and reacted to a threat." _He tried, as the ANBU moved to re-join the Fellowship.

"_It is…fine. They were defending friends. Understandable." _Was the carefully measured out response. Aragorn resisted the urge to laugh outright at how similar the Elf and Neji sounded. That would be rude, and embarrassing…especially once he had to explain himself. He settled for schooling his face into a mask of politeness, and praying that they had not caught his lapse of control.

"_Great…while we are all standing around here talking and being polite, orcs – or whatever the damned things are called – could be heading this way. Let's move along now!"_ Naruto growled, as Legolas began talking to the other Elves about what was going to be done, and how they were going to get to the Golden Woods.

That was after the elven sentries had seen Gimli, the dwarf, and gone for their weapons again. It was only with the intervention of Aragorn and the ANBU that kept their weapons sheathed.

It seemed that the Elves of these woods were even more paranoid than some shinobi, and that was saying plenty. Naruto, for his trouble, only received a few glares from the sentries that were not talking to Legolas and Aragorn.

"Come, the elves have offered to let us stay with them for the night." Aragorn said, as he turned to the Company.

"Could we not just continue on? We have guides now." Neji asked, and earned himself a few odd looks, which he brushed off and continued talking, "And it was said that this city was not far from here." The one elf who had learned Common, Haldir, spoke up.

"We could. But your group…" he trailed off, letting them know what he thought of the group. The ANBU were not pleased with the implied insult.

"So you meant 'not far' in relative terms. It is 'not far' for you – a well rested group – but for us – a group that has already been worn down – it would be. Correct?" Neji's comment was met with dead silence, his veiled insult just as blatant as theirs had been. Behind the mask the young man smirked. No one irritated a Hyuuga without feeling some type of recoil. No one.

Aragorn watched with a mix of amusement and trepidation, as the male Hyuuga verbally countered an Elf. Legolas, for his part, was finding this rather entertaining. But he also remembered the time.

"Excuse me. I would like to point out that this is an argument that can still be carried out once we are all safely in the trees. Away from where the orcs will be." He commented lightly. But the group needed no further prodding – they were exhausted, and in need of some rest. And up in the trees would be a convenient place to do so. And the sentries had offered. So both groups went back to the trees for rest, regardless of how much they…disliked each other at the moment.

The next morning brought few surprises. Once again the ANBU were the first ones up, seconds before the Elves. Aragorn was dragged back to the world of the waking once he was nudged in the side with a pointy something.

"Dude. He sleeps like a rock." A voice muttered, as the person continued to poke him.

"I do not. Rocks do not sleep. Stop jabbing me." Aragorn sighed, as he sat up.

"Whups." He recognized the fox and wolf masks as Naruto and Kiba, and shook his head. He was beginning to wonder how Neji and Hinata dealt with the two.

"Told ya. Wake up, fearless leader. The more paranoid Elves want to get moving now." Kiba said, as Naruto began playing with the dagger he had used to poke Aragorn with. At Kiba's statement the Man could only blink.

"'More paranoid?' Compared to?" he asked, standing up and stretching out his muscles. He had slept oddly, thanks to the _talan. _Not that he was going to complain…

"Legolas. He's not as hair-triggered." Kiba answered blandly.

"Or pushy." Narutop added, and once again Aragorn was left to wonder about the odd group Gandalf had left with them.

"…right." He finally said, before rubbing at his side. How they managed to jab him through all the material he did not want to know.

"What are you two doing to Aragorn?" at that they turned to see Boromir looking them over. He saw Naruto with a dagger, and Aragorn rubbing absent-mindedly at the area where Naruto had poked him. He raised an eyebrow at this.

"Waking him up." Naruto answered, grinning behind his mask. Both Men gave the ANBU an odd look.

"…with a knife?" Boromir asked, skeptical of the group. He also wondered what idiot would wake a warrior with something sharp and pointy.

"Yep!" and his answer was, of course, Naruto would. He sighed. It was far too early for this…

"Good morning Boromir. Please get them away from me." Aragorn pleaded. Even he was not awake enough to deal with them. But Boromir only sighed and nodded.

"Fine. Come on you two, help wake the Halflings…without the use of sharp objects." He said, climbing back down, followed by the two masked men.

"Kay!" one answered, and the other only gave a grumbled "Oh where's the fun in that?" before their voices faded.

"Those two…I apologize for them." Another voice spoke up, and Aragorn turned to face the person. He gave the shinobi behind himself a crooked smile, showing that everything was fine and there had been no harm done.

"Neji…when did you wake up?" he asked, attempting to avoid any uncomfortable subjects for the moment. It really was too early for such things. But before Neji could answer, another did, making the Ranger jump slightly.

"They all woke before I did." Legolas answered, as he made his way back up to the platform, but Legolas seemed a bit distracted, as he was not looking entirely at the Ranger.

"Legolas. Good morning." Aragorn greeted, before looking over to where the Elf was staring. When all he saw was the ANBU he turned back to his elven friend in confusion.

"Were you up last night?" the elf asked, and Neji nodded.

"Of course. They made enough noise to wake the dead." Legolas did not comment further, though even if he had wanted to he was interrupted by Haldir calling for them to start moving.

It was time to continue on towards Lothlórien.

(A/N:…helpful hint to all writers…never argue with your muse. Especially if they are like mine and will not hesitate to flip you the bird and storm off…)


	11. The Golden Woods

**Summary:** First chapter still covers it.

**Disclaimer:** Don't sue…you will not get anything, especially if I keep taking forever to get these chapters up. I think I hear an angry mob outside my window.

**A/N:** …please don't kill me…been feeling really depressed…life has decided to kick me while I'm down.

wishfulliving89 –Thanks, and sorry it took so long…

Dannichigo - ^/^ thank you so much!

bookworm51485 – Make that two…so sorry, but life bites. And hard. I think I heard the Jaws theme playing there for a bit…and well, shit. Can we say that Naruto had a growth spurt? Please?

Snapeissexy – thanks! And I will finish this, a.s.a.p. Promise.

GintsukiKyu – Sorry about the wait.

Hippielicious – anything with relationships in them…well…I'm no good at porn. I like fluff. I like to think I'm good at fluff. Hard-core stuff…I'm leaving that to other stories, 'cuz that just would not go good with this story. At all.

DemonKittyAngel – oh, I implied something. But that is for the reader to decide just what I implied. And yeah, that would be him, and it was for the best that the Ranger did not react on instinct. It would not have been pretty. And thanks.

NaruVamp – Hmn…I need to do more with Shikamaru…that would be funny. And Sakura…er…Medic's are best left _alone_. Anyway, two of four, not bad.

Nebelkind – Thanks! And for the sake of the story, and not having the Fellowship freak, we'll say 'no' cuz I don't think they would like the idea much.

evil-step-sister - …sorry for the wait…

rose-of-alabaster – Should have seen what mine does when inspired by dark stuff…'nightmare' doesn't even cover it. And, nah, that's my fault for taking so long…

dragonamy21 – thanks! And I will!

dragons chaotic – oh, that's not going to take long at all…

Escalus – but the book mentioned sleeping…

Liliesshadow – ah…crap. I need a beta!

Flightless Bird – Yeah, they are. And they have a price to pay for their abilities, just like everyone else. And I'll try that next time she runs off like that. And thanks!

Kari Suttle – Yep! And please do so! Their stuff is amazing!

"_Elven/Shinobi"_

"Common"

'_Thoughts'_

'**Kyuubi'**

Chapter Eleven: The Golden Woods

Boromir had not wanted to go to the Woods. In fact he would have rather marched straight into Mordor – naked. But he was not going to say this, though he did protest going further. In the end all it took was Aragorn telling him that the sooner they got there the sooner they could try and avoid the two crazed ANBU also known as Kiba and Naruto.

He stopped talking and walked faster.

"You don't like them much, do you?" Aragorn asked of his fellow Man. Boromir shook his head.

"No. That is not true. I think they do not like me much. If I did not know better I would say they were attempting to drive me out of my mind." He responded, glancing over to where the ANBU paced beside the Fellowship.

"Or it is their version of retribution. You seemed to have offended them when you first met." Aragorn pointed out, making the Gondorian man wince.

"I remember. I have been reckless with my words…I hope they do not hold it against me for too much longer." He finally said with a sigh. He had thought the ANBU were warriors…and usually when a warrior became angry with another it led to blows or worse. Sometimes words were enough, but that was rare. But it seemed these warriors had a different version of revenge. Driving the offender insane. And guess what? It was working.

Boromir was not sure his sanity was going to last too much longer with them around. And it seemed that Aragorn was being dragged into the mix, and he was sure it would not be long before Legolas, Gimli, and the Halflings were dragged in as well. Why had they accepted such strange people in the first place? Yes, they had been invaluable at times, but others…well he was not going to think further on that matter.

Crossing the Celebrant was not a difficult task…for the ANBU and Legolas – who crossed without the aid of the other two ropes, and did so with perfect ease. It was almost as if the thin rope was a well-worn path to them.

The others were less…graceful. Aragorn was sure-footed and did not hold to the other ropes, but swayed slightly and he kept his focus on the opposite shore. Boromir clutched one rope tightly when he crossed, determined not to look down and only stared at the opposite shore. Gimli had to be coaxed into it, clutching tightly to the ropes, and was swearing under his breath in his own language the entire time. Sam shuffled across, staring down at the water, and clinging to the rope as if it were the only thing keeping him from falling into a deep chasm. Pippen followed much like Aragorn, trying to mimic the Ranger's motions, but kept one hand on the rope. Frodo was less afraid than Sam, but not as bold as Pippen, one hand wrapped securely around the rope as he made his way slowly across. Merry followed in a similar fashion to Sam, sans the staring into the rushing water.

"Never…again…" Gimli grumbled, as he watched the Elves take the 'bridge' apart. He was a Dwarf – solid ground and deep tunnels were what he preferred. This madness? He was sure he would have quite the tale to tell once it was all over, but for now he just had to survive the journey. But the real fun was yet to come…

Now what happened after crossing the Celebrant was not as easy to deal with as crossing said river.

Gimli refused to be blindfolded alone, and Legolas was not going to go with the compromise Gimli said the only way to get the blindfold on him was. And when Aragorn proposed that the _entire _Company go blindfolded he was met with a heated _'NO!'_ from the ANBU, even Hinata. Trying to talk them down had been a task, one Aragorn was sure added plenty of grays to his hair before their time, but he finally managed to convince them to accept. Even Naruto finally gave in. Though he had a feeling that he was soon going to be joining Boromir on their list of 'people to take revenge of the strangest kind' upon. Needless to say he was going to be watching them for their normal tricks for the next few days…once they got to Lothlórien. As for now…well. He could only hope they would be gracious enough not to torment anyone on the way there. He was sure this was not the best way to deal with things, but it was the best he could think of. Once again he found himself wishing for the council of Gandalf, because he, himself, only seemed to put everyone on edge…

Unlike the Men, the Elves did not stare when the ANBU removed their masks, revealing young faces. Though they had looked surprised for a brief second, and only to Legolas and Aragorn's eyes. The white eyes of the Hyuuga did not go unnoticed, nor did the strange marking on Kiba or Naruto's faces. But they did not ask, and simply tied the blindfolds over their eyes. Only Akamaru escaped the treatment, the Elves not knowing what to do with the dog.

They really didn't know if they were to treat him as an intelligent creature like the Eagles, or a dumb beast like the Wargs. When Kiba sat on the dog though, they decided it was the latter.

Just as the ANBU planned. If worst came to worst Akamaru would know the way out. It was almost embarrassing how easily fooled the Elves were, but then again not all were as wise as Elrond.

'**They really don't know what they are dealing with, do they?'** the Kyuubi asked, snickering in amusement. For beings so old they were incredibly dense in some areas. It found this amusing to no end.

'_Shut up, fox. We don't know that yet.'_ Naruto growled back, irritated with the blindfold already.

Once it was settled that nothing was amiss, they began the trek towards Lothlórien.

By the time the blindfolds came off it was noon, and they heard the Elven warriors hurrying towards the borders, but not before leaving messages of several types for Haldir. The last, of course, being that his Lord and Lady knew who travelled in their lands and said they were all to walk free.

No sooner had the blindfolds come off than did the ANBU replace them with their masks. Both the Lothlórien Elves and the entire Fellowship found the action a bit odd considering, but they were not going to ask questions. Not that the Fellowship had much mind too once they looked around.

The land they had stepped into was not what they had been expecting, but it felt right somehow. Peaceful, like a bit of the days before Sauron and this madness had begun had been preserved in that area. Thoughts about the ANBU's odd habits vanished within the hobbits minds as they looked around, ready to explore. For the Men it was simply shoved far into the backs of their minds, as they looked about. Eager as they were to move, their bodies demanded otherwise, and most of the Fellowship simply dropped onto the grass, relaxed for the first time in quite a while. The shinobi were the only ones who did not do so, instead they wandered off, and were not seen again until it was time for them to continue on.

By the time they reached their destination, it was getting dark, the sun setting behind the skyline. By the time they actually entered the city the sun had set. The hobbits, having used Akamaru as a pony again, were looking around in awe, like the rest of the group. They came to the stairs that would lead them up to Celeborn and Galadriel, and followed up after Haldir, Legolas and Frodo as instructed.

"_These trees are huge…"_ Kiba breathed, as he stared down at the ground – which was a long way down even for him. And they still had a ways to go before they reached the top.

"_I agree…at home we would be at the top by now. Even with the tallest ones."_ Neji commented, as he joined Kiba to stare over the edge of the stairs. Naruto and Hinata soon joined, ignoring the small noise from Gimli who was disturbed by heights and the ANBU's lack of fear as they leaned precariously over the edge of the stairs. If they tipped too far…Gimli shook that thought away as he pictured his own plummet to the ground. Boromir, it seemed, was of the same mind-set as the dwarf as he kept as close as possible to the trunk of the tree. By the time the company neared the top those two were vowing not to look over the edge. Or at the ANBU. Or at the Elf, who was copying them. Or at Aragorn, because he would look back with a smirk that said all too clearly what he thought of their fear of heights. In fact they had decided that the stairs were the more interesting part of the tree they were climbing up. It was closer, and did not make them feel like fools.

Though, all thought fled them as soon as they came to the top of the tree, and saw what looked to be a Hall of Man. The room itself was the size of a large ship's deck. Or, for the ANBU, the size of a training field – sans the forested ones. Naruto whistled in amazement, as he and the others took in what they saw. They had not been prepared for the elegance of such a hall, and were taken quite flat-footed, as they – including almost all of the Fellowship – looked around at the softly glowing lights, the living pillar of the tree, and the roof of gold overhead. Under the tree, though, was the sight that they knew they would never forget. The two elves that sat under the living canopy of leaves and branches, were Celeborn and Galadriel – the Lord and Lady of the Golden Woods. Tall were the two, when they rose to greet their guests, both clad in clothing of a white that was fairer than snow. The Lord had hair that shone of silver, while the Lady's was a deeper gold than the precious metal mined for decoration. They were old, older than many of the trees, but those many years of wisdom only showed in their eyes, as they had no signs of aging on them. Were the ANBU to have meet such a couple at Konoha they would have assumed it were an illusion or a special technique like the one their Hokage used. Here, though, they could only attribute it to the elves, and their…unique chakra. Many of the elves had some strange light, or glow to their chakra, both Hyuuga taking time to study and report the differences to Tsunade as they had spent time in the company of Legolas, but he did not compare to the light that came from the Lady and the Lord. For once, even the Kyuubi was silent.

They ANBU jumped in surprise as they were addressed – after Gimli had risen from his humble bow, as he began to hope to restore a friendship between his race and the elves – as they had not been paying attention, for once. They flushed red under their masks, thinking on how the long trip was wearing on them to make them mess up in the basics.

"And you, ANBU of Konoha, have journeyed far from your homes. You had no need to join, yet you follow the Fellowship as loyal friends. You have fought much alongside people you hardly know, warriors from far away. But come, lay aside the warrior's mantel for this stay and rest. You are safe here." Celeborn said, gesturing for them to be seated in the remaining chairs. They sat, holding onto what dignity and poise they had left after being taken by surprise so badly.

Once everyone was seated the Lord looked among them, as if he were searching for a face he had hoped to see. When it was clear he had not missed the person he was looking for he addressed the Fellowship.

"Here there are twelve. Thirteen were to set out: so said the messages. But maybe there has been some change of counsel that we have not heard. Elrond is far away, and darkness gathers between us, and all this year the shadows have grown longer." He said, as he looked out at the assembled group before him. But it was his queen that answered his unasked question.

"Nay, there was no change in counsel. Gandalf the Grey set out with the Company, but he did not pass the borders of this land. Now tell us where he is; for I much desired to speak with him again. But I cannot see him from afar, unless he comes within the fences of Lothlórien: a grey mist is about him, and the ways of his feet and of his mind are hidden from me." She said, as she looked out at the Company as well. Her king looked over them as well, as they waited to hear what had become of their friend. But they only needed to see the dark looks on the visible faces, and slumped posture to find that it was not going to be good news.

"He…he fell. In the Mines of Moria." Neji muttered, before anyone else could say anything. He felt responsible, like he should have done something more to prevent the wizard from doing what he had. Naruto gave his shoulder a shake, as he could tell where his mind had wandered. But at Neji's words the gathered elves cried aloud at the misfortune. Celeborn and Galadriel looked shocked as well, for a brief moment, before it faded into grief.

"These are evil tidings, the most evil that have been spoken here in long years full of grievous deeds." Celebor said, finally, and Neji looked down, staring at his hands. He could still see Gandalf's fall…Another rough shake from Naruto snapped him from those thoughts. The ANBU remained silent through Aragorn's retelling of what had happened to bring them to the Golden Woods, aside from the times where they had to help explain a few things, such as how the Hyuuga could see in darkness and still be human and not elven. Well…more like explain that they had a certain ability that allowed them to do so, without giving anything away. Though…the looks they got made them feel as if the two Elves knew more about them than they let on. It was as disconcerting thought, but they refused to dwell on it long. Though, at the mention of the Balrog both companies looked uncomfortable. Save for Galadriel, and she looked as if she knew something that none of them did, something that had even passed her husband by. From under his mask, Neji studied her, wondering if she did know more than she was saying. He had to wonder what type of danger she would be, if the Leaf were to find itself against her. Oh, he already knew that the Elves were dangerous creatures, some as deadly as the S-Ranked ninja of their lands. She though…she set off so many alarms, without intent to kill, that it made him even more paranoid around her. He heard the discussions with half an ear, knowing his team could take care of themselves, as he tried to think on what type of mess they had agreed to. The last words caught him, though, and he snapped his attention back to the conversation at hand.

"…say to you: your Quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little and it will fail, to the ruin of all. Yet hope remains while all the Company is true." she said, and turned her gaze to the Company before her. Only Aragorn and Legolas could stand her gaze for long, even the ANBU looked down in the wake of her gaze.

Upon being dismissed to sleep, the Company left the two, and were led to a pavilion. The hobbits were grateful that it was on the ground, while the others were just glad that it was somewhere to sleep in safety. And, of course, the hobbits had to ask what had happened up with the Lord and Lady of the Woods. It started with Pippin teasing Sam about blushing, and thinking about stealing his blankets. Sam denied the accusation, quite hotly, before muttering about what he had seen, and heard. Merry nodded, but refused to say what he had been offered. Many of them did, though the more curious of the group pressed for answers. Kiba, when pressed by the hobbits, sighed and decided that there was no harm in humoring them.

"Me? It was a choice between continuing on, and going home. Kinda like choosing between which academy I wanted to join. Warrior or Healer. Heh…you see what I chose. I know my life expectancy got chopped in half once I joined the ANBU but I don't regret it. I'll go out making sure my Village is stronger for it." He replied, as he dropped onto his couch. He wasn't surprised to see the rest of the squad nodding, before taking the couches around him.

The rest of the Company stared at them for a moment, before the warriors of the group moved to their own couches, wondering exactly how old the ANBU were…the hobbits were more surprised, as they were not used to fighting, and the idea of joining an organization that was sure to shorten their lives was unthinkable. To have Kiba speak of it with such conviction…it made them wonder what type of life they lived back home.

They spent a number of days in the Woods, an exact number was not forthcoming, not even to the ANBU, as they recovered from their journey, and grief. As they spent time there, the Company saw little of the ANBU, as they had taken it upon themselves to explore the area. Quite a few times the Company would find empty sleep couches when night fell, and only one was around at a time. Two if it was Kiba and Akamaru, but it was not odd to have Legolas come back, chuckling about something they had done. Gimli, who was often at his side, was normally just shaking his head, as he wondered if all form their country became that…wild, when bored.

"Legolas. What have they done this time?" Aragorn asked, as he saw the Elf covering his laughter. Even Gimli looked amused.

"Ah…nothing. Nothing to be concerned about. The ANBU are just proving, once again, that they do not like being detained in one place for long. I would assume you knew this, as Elrond was not particularly happy with them by the time the Council was called." The Elf responded, looking far too amused for it to be a simple 'nothing' he claimed it was. Aragorn raised an eyebrow at this.

"Yes. And he was even less so by the time we left. Surely they cannot be causing trouble here?" he asked, glancing to the Dwarf, who was all but laughing. The giant smirk on his face, though, that spoke of how close he was to abandoning his dignity and rolling on the ground in laughter.

"…you would be surprised." Legolas responded, once again avoiding answering directly, much to Aragorn's annoyance. He had never been the best at getting any type of logical answer from any Elf. Not that it was an easy thing to do for anyone but other Elves…and Gandalf.

"Ah, just come out and say it lad. They terrified the last watch by falling off that infernal staircase!" Gimli finally burst out, before laughing. Legolas bowed his head, as his shoulders shook with his own laughter. Aragorn could only stare, his mind drawing a blank.

"They what?" he asked, thinking he had heard them wrong. Surely they could not mean…they hadn't said…

"Jumped, actually. I think they were playing a game…and one of them found the fastest way to escape was…straight down." Legolas corrected Gimli, as he looked up to see the pole-axed expression on the Man's face. Said man could only let out a slightly strangled noise, as Gimli continued on with the story.

"The guards didn't think so." He added, looking from Aragorn, to Legolas, his grin only growing wider.

"They also didn't think that the one would survive such a fall." Legolas added, as he took notice of the color and expression on the Ranger's face with amusement.

"_I_ didn't think they would survive such a fall!" Gimli added, laughing as he saw what had the Elf's attention. Really, he did not think a Man could turn such colors.

"What?" Aragorn was sure they were joking, but they way…oh gods above…they weren't joking, the ANBU had honestly done that…what else could go wrong? He soon found out that he should never challenge the Fates.

"The game looked like one was chasing the other three, and they were half-way up the Lord and Lady's staircase, before one managed to catch one of the other three, and then…well, the only way to escape was down. And down they went. Just not in the typical fashion." Legolas informed him, sounding positively gleeful at the idea of what they had done. Aragorn could only stare.

"One of them…jumped. From that height. And survived. I did hear this clearly, correct?" the Ranger finally asked, afraid of the answer, and trying to process that they had been using the home of the Lord and Lady of the Woods for a game, but he was the default leader now, and he had to be informed of such things…even if they almost sent him into shock.

"Yes." Both replied, almost in unison. Aragorn wondered what was worse, but brushed it off as he

"…why am I not surprised?" he groaned, and Gimli grinned.

"Because, we have gotten used to them and their antics. That's why." Gimli responded. Before Aragorn could comment further, a scream from behind him had him turning in time to see Boromir yanked up into the boughs of a tree, covered in feathers and leaves. His fellow Man hung several feet from the ground, by his ankles. Once again Aragorn was flabbergasted, as he could only stare as two black cloaked persons darted away from the scene. He whirled back to Legolas and Gimli, just in time to see them form hand-signs and release the technique that had disguised them as such. Two more black robed figures ran off, laughing, as the real Legolas came into view. He was carrying Gimli over a deceptively slender shoulder, as the Dwarf had fainted.

"Legolas? What just happened?" Aragorn asked, and Legolas only shook his head.

"I think we had better move on. Soon." Was all he could say, and Aragorn could only agree.

As it came for the day they would depart, the Lord and Lady called them back into the chamber where they first meet them, and once they were all seated, the Lord began to speak to them. He asked if they were all prepared to carry on, and when none spoke in objection, the Lady looked them all in the eye, knowing that they resolved to carry on. As she said this, she knew that they would be leaving, and prayed for the best.

They were finally moving again, after a night of debating where they were to go. The ANBU had little input, as they did not know the land as the others did, and amused themselves by talking with the hobbits – who were similarly excused for the same reason – as the other tried to decide on a course for them to take. As the night wore on, and Boromir insisting on returning home, they ended discussion with no real plan besides 'follow the river' laid out. Neji, being the captain of his squad, laid a hand on his shoulder, offering his support. Aragorn returned with a thin smile, before leaving for his rest.

"_What do you make of this fine mess?"_ Naruto asked, as they watched the Company drop into sleep. Hinata had her hand by her mouth, a gesture long forgotten, as Kiba tapped his foot.

"This_? This is more than a mess. We are relying on unreliable sources, and fighting what seems to be a losing war."_ Neji muttered, shaking his head. This was not what the mission had entailed, and they had definitely not expected this when the volunteered at the Council. If they had know…

"_Not that that has stopped us before."_ Yes, they would still have gone along. They were from the Leaf, and this Sauron was as much a threat as Oorochimaru had been. Greater even. They would make their village safer by taking this thing out, outside of their territory.

"_No…but this is…we need to keep an eye on Boromir. He's changed."_ Neji said, looking between his squad. He received a few nods, and he returned the gesture.

"_Yeah. So we follow Aragorn."_ Naruto commented, gesturing to the sleeping Man, as they turned back to the pavilion where the others slept. Once again, Neji nodded.

"_Full support. Agreed?"_ he asked, and he was answered by sharp nods from his squad.

"_Agreed."_ They chorused. And with their own plans laid out, they went to sleep themselves, feeling safe enough in the Woods to not take shifts.

They didn't see Aragorn close his eyes. It was good to know he had support, but he would take their advice, even if not meant for him to hear. Boromir had to be watched.


End file.
